Friday, March 7, 2008

Great Expectations

I'm about as high on Jacob Ellsbury as anyone west of the Berkshires, but when you see headlines like "Red Sox' Ellsbury seems ready to blaze a trail to stardom," you have to figure that a non trivial amount of disappointment is in the offing. While a fine player, he's not likely to hit .350 and repeat as a postseason hero. No one is, though I get a vibe that that's what Red Sox Nation expects.

Question: what will the headlines look like if he hits a workmanlike .290 with very little power? Because that's what he did in just over 400 AAA plate appearances last year.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Red Sox Nation, unlike lots of other fan bases, will be more concerned about his OBP than his Batting Avg. I visited Boston last year, and heard a caller berate a radio host for being concerned about Pedroia's batting avg. slipping even though his OBP was very high. The radio host apologized and agreed with the caller. Still, your point is well-taken, Ellsbury almost cannot live up to the hype.

Unknown said...

"Ellsbury Hits .286, Yankees Still Suck"

Of course, that would be the Herald. The Globe would relegate the bit about the Yankees to a sub-header.

Anonymous said...

Didn't you see Ellsbury hit 3 homeruns in September? That kid has mad power. He'll be slugging .500 next year. /sarcasm

Unfortunately, that's really how a lot of Red Sox fans see it. Which is good for me in my fantasy baseball league. Not so good for my sanity since I'll have to listen Bob Ryan or CHB on NESN everyday.