TAMPA — Exhibit A occurred Aug. 1, 2014, at Fenway Park, when Red Sox center fielder Mookie Betts ran and leaped to rob Jacoby Ellsbury of extra bases.
Exhibit B took place three days later at Yankee Stadium, when Tigers center fielder Ezequiel Carrera sprinted to his right, dove and snared another Ellsbury bullet.
"There's potentially six RBIs right there," Ellsbury said Saturday at Steinbrenner Field. "That's a good week, let alone a good two days."
Actually, the first hit took place with the bases empty, and the second, with the bases loaded, scored Ichiro Suzuki tagging up from third base. So the total damage was two RBI. Yet Ellsbury has won the right to Brian Williams-ize his maiden Yankees voyage, for the numbers back up Ellsbury's assertions he suffered from bad luck last year.
For this 2015 Yankees season to avoid being a disaster, the club needs improved health and/or better performances from its players both young (Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda) and old (Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann, CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira). What it needs and wants from Alex Rodriguez remains murky.
In order not to counterbalance such surges, the Yankees' few quality performers from last year could help by duplicating their contributions. And in the case of Ellsbury, a duplication of approach should equal better results.
Ellsbury kicked off his seven-year, $153-million contract by playing in 149 games and tallying 635 plate appearances, quieting those (like me) who had pointed out his prior durability issues. He put up a .271/.328/.419 slash line while playing decent defense, making him and his fellow speedy outfielder Brett Gardner the Yankees' most valuable everyday players. However, it represented a drop from his platform 2013 season with the Red Sox (.298/.355/.426), the one off which the Yankees committed major dollars to Ellsbury while allowing Robinson Cano to go to Seattle.
Jacoby Ellsbury runs the bases during Saturday's workout.Photo: Charles Wenzelberg
The 31-year-old Ellsbury, often hitting third for the Yankees, increased his power production from 2013, as his home runs jumped from nine to 16 and his RBI from 53 to 70. Although you might want to attribute that to Yankee Stadium's friendly right-field porch, Ellsbury hit seven homers at home and nine on the road. His doubles dipped from 31 to 27 and his triples from eight to five. In all, his total extra-base hits went from 48 to 49.
So the noticeable drops in Ellsbury's batting average and on-base percentage happened because he hit considerably fewer singles — 124 in 2013, 107 in 2014. Interestingly, Ellsbury's groundball percentage (50.8 percent to 41.8 percent) decreased, according to FanGraphs, while his rates for line drives (21 percent to 24.7 percent) and fly balls (28.2 percent to 33.5 percent) went upward.
"There were times where I felt like I was lining out a lot more than normal," Ellsbury said. "That's part of the game. … There are going to be times when you do everything right, you square the ball up, you hit a line drive, and the outfielder runs and tracks it down."
Ellsbury's batting average on balls in play dropped from .341 in 2013 to .296 in 2014. He likely didn't get hurt by improved defensive positioning, as occurred with the shift-victimized McCann and Teixeira.
"I guess I'm a tough guy to position, because I spray the ball around the field," Ellsbury said. "It's not like you can really play me to pull. If you play me to pull, I'm going to go the other way, or I'm going to lay down a bunt."
No, the best guess is simple baseball misfortune. And the best strategy is to ask Ellsbury to just do what he did last year.
"I think that's why they call it 'a career,' " Ellsbury said. "How did his career go? You could look at it: How did the week go? How did the month go? How did the year go? I think if you're doing the right things, if you're hitting line drives, that's really all you can do. It's going to even out eventually."
Evening out, all over their roster, is the Yankees' best shot at avoiding the odd sight of a third straight October vacation.
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