1. Jacoby Ellsbury
Outlier season: 2011 – 158 GP, .321 BA, 119 R, 32 HR, 105 RBI, 39 SB, 7.4 oWAR
Best otherwise: 2013 – 134 GP, .298-92-9-53-52, 4.1 oWAR
Career averages excluding outlier season: 111 GP, .281-68-7-42-37, 2.45 oWAR
Surprise surprise, another player now donning pinstripes alongside Chase Headley whose best seasons also appear to be behind him is on this list. Although Jacoby Ellsbury is a more serviceable player than Headley, he is yet to justify his seven-year, $153MM deal signed in December of 2013 to play for New York.
Ellsbury’s 32 round trippers and 104 RBI in 2011 are 16 and 35 more than his second best single season totals, respectively. Only twice in his career has he hit double digit home runs in a season. It’s an odd thing too, because Yankee Stadium is just as favorable a hitters park as Fenway is, if not more so.
A career .288/.343/.424 hitter with a good range in center field and the ability to hit leadoff, Ellsbury is usually in the running to compete for a stolen bases title in a given season.
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However, there must have been something in the water in Boston in 2011, as his power numbers came from out of nowhere. Even his 46 doubles have never been approached again, as his next best count came when he hit 31 in 2013. Ellsbury finished second behind Justin Verlander in AL MVP voting in 2011.