Well if his wrist really is bothering him, when is it going to get better? If his wrist continues to bother him, his numbers aren't going to improve like everyone hopes.

I read the article, liked it, and agree with the general idea of it. Ellsbury was not hitting a lot of XBH even though he had a few dingers and that upper cut swing. Even when he was hot, he had as many doubles as HRs and we were surprised by the HR outburst he had. Now we all were arguing that his SB% and speed could turn singles and walks into doubles and triples, which I still believe is true and where his value is. But he needs to hit for SOME power, gap power at least just to keep defenses and pitchers honest. He can't get into hitters counts because pitchers are throwing him first pitch strikes. It's hard to draw walks when you start every count 0-1.

Jerry mentioned something to this topic the other night and I agree with him. Ellsbury may want to think about leveling off his swing a bit more as well as dropping down more bunts (like he did last night). By playing the ground game more, he's going to mis-align the infielders. He'll draw the corner guys in and if there are runners on base, it may force the middle infielders to have to move to cover a base. So by drawing the infielders in because he could drop a bunt at any time, this gives him an advantage when he hits a line drive because it reduces the reaction time for the defender. Unless he hits the ball RIGHT at the third baseman, the ball will drop in for a hit because he won't be able to do much but lean to grab the ball as it flies past. And if he has a more level swing and hits more line drives, he could force OFs to play him straight up or even deep in some instances because they fear his speed if the ball gets into the gap. Now, if the OF is comfortable enough, he can play Jacoby a bit shallower like Manny does at Fenway. While they gamble on a ball possibly going over their head or into the gap, that is happening so rarely now that by playing him more shallow they can rob him of bloop base hits. If he strokes a few lines drives into the gaps and ends up at third or with an inside the parker, defenses no longer have that option to do that, giving him those bloop hits to work his magic on the base paths with.

I am firmly in the camp that Ellsbury's blazing speed can make up for his lack of power. However, pitchers and defenses need to respect his present, sub-standard power enough. They don't need to fear HRs but they need to fear line drives into the gap and balls over the OFs heads. If he's smoking line drives, pitchers are going to be forced to nibble a bit more or throw him balls out of the strike zone to keep him from teeing off on every pitch, putting him in hitters counts and be able to draw walks again. I agree with Jerry and think that Ellsbury should level off his swing and play small ball more. This will give me him more leeway in terms of being able to get lucky bloop hits. Luck isn't random, it's the residue of design. Ellsbury might want to think about tweaking his current design. mahalo
~Chach~