Jacoby Ellsbury

He's the key igniting the other eight cylinders that make up Boston's lineup.
He's the tee raised two inches above the soil, perching the golf ball up for a 300 yard drive.

We first caught glimpse (literally) of the 24 year old outfielder's awesome speed on July 2, 2007, about a year ago. The scene was set at Fenway Park against the Rangers with Ellsbury stealing the first of what will one day end up being many bases and then instigating something extremely rare.

The ball flew by Texas catcher Gerald Laird's glove and instead of settling for third, Ellsbury managed to manufacture his own offense, rounding the base and scoring on a marvelous piece of base running. For a rookie to not only have the awareness, but also the physical skill to pull something like this off is very special.

The point in me writing about Jacoby Ellsbury is this. Playing in a town like Boston, where the average price of a ticket is almost 50 dollars (the highest in major league baseball), the pressure is enormous. Fans go out expecting a better than decent product from the Red Sox and when it's not there, they get upset. Never mind that it's the hardest sport to play and that slumps both for the team and individual are an inevitability, there is no excuse for a player at Jacoby Ellsbury's skill level to ever see a performance drop off.

The attitude towards him is one that should be reserved for a four time all-star. If Ellsbury was a year in year out regular at the mid summer classic (which he will be a few years down the road) and happened to be batting .270 as the lead off hitter then there might be a problem.

However, the fact of the matter is that he's just a rookie. A rookie that happens to be leading the American League in stolen bases with 35. A rookie that has yet to commit an error roaming one of the trickiest outfields in baseball. A rookie who is already causing chaos for opposing infielders that know any ball bobbling could cost them an out.

During last Tuesday's loss to the Rays, Ellsbury managed to reach base three times without getting the ball out of the infield. The first was a short grounder picked up by Rays catcher Dioner Navarro who hastily chucked it into right field. Ellsbury reached third. The second was a hard hit grounder up the middle, which thanks to his 4.2 40 time, caused shortstop Jason Bartlett to wildly throw the ball over everyone's head. Ellsbury ended up on second. The last and most impressive was ironically the only one ruled an error. The rookie put a bunt down the first baseline and no throw was made by the pitcher.

So for those not pleased with Ellsbury's production as of late, all I can say is relax. He's a rare talent with Grady Sizemore like intangibles who will be a premier American League outfielder for the next seven to ten years. But the Fenway faithful can't be too mad at him. Ellsbury is batting .303 at home.