Ellsbury named ‘Comeback Player’
“In, literally, what has been the only good Red Sox-related news in over a month, MLB.com beat writers have voted Jacoby Ellsbury as the 2011 Comeback Player of the Year. Ellsbury’s 2010 season was cut to just 18 games when the outfielder collided with third baseman Adrian Beltre. The outfielder hit just .192 in 78 at-bats, going homerless on the season. This past season, Ellsbury rebounded to hit .321/.376/.552 with 32 bombs, 105 RBI and 39 stolen bases becoming the first 30-homer, 30-stolen base player in Red Sox history. He’s also the only player in team history to hit 30 home runs and drive in 100 runs out of the leadoff spot. Ellsbury’s MVP-worthy season also put him in an elite class with Vladimir Guerrero (2002), Alfonso Soriano (2002) and Alex Rodriguez (1998), as just the fourth man in MLB history to tally 200 hits, 100 RBI, 35 stolen bases and 30 homers in the same season. Coming into spring, Ellsbury wasn’t nearly at the top of the list for players to keep an eye on. Most were concerned with how Josh Beckett would rebound as Boston’s fourth starter, how Adrian Gonzalez would hit after his shoulder surgery, what Carl Crawford was going to do, and if John Lackey could keep his ERA under 7. Surely, the Red Sox’ collapse will likely cost Ellsbury the American League MVP, but that doesn’t mean that the winner-to-be had a better season than Ellsbury. The just so happened to be on a better team, which will likely be the case. We all knew Ellsbury would be a special player, but I don’t think many of us knew he would be this special.”
- Jared Carrabis, SoxSpaceNews
