JUPITER, Fla. - He is the next one, the can't-miss kid of Boston sports, the player fans didn't want the Red Sox to trade - even when Johan Santana was on the block.
He is Jacoby Ellsbury, maybe the fastest player in Red Sox history, a guy who can score from second on a wild pitch, a guy who can hit .353 in a 33-game sample at the end of the 2007 season, a guy who can lead off in a World Series game and go 4 for 5.
He is electricity on a baseball diamond, a neon god in a dugout of mere mortals. He could be the next Fred Lynn, maybe more. Johnny Pesky this spring actually said he thinks Ellsbury could wind up being as good as Ted Williams.
Whoa, there, Johnny. Get back, Mr. Paveskovich. Come in out of the sun for a spell.
With all this hype and small-sample performance comes celebrity gossip, endorsement opportunities, and the adulation of a Nation. It's a lot for a kid who has not yet been named a member of the starting lineup.
"It's all new," Ellsbury said yesterday morning, while standing in the visitors clubhouse at Roger Dean Stadium. "I used to laugh about it when there was a lot of stuff said and written about other people. Now I'm in it.
"Some of that stuff is true, some of it is not. But you can't read too much into it and think about it, even though it is pretty funny at times what people will say."
In theory, Ellsbury is battling incumbent Coco Crisp for the starting center field position. We all know better. The Sox can't come out and say it, but they are trying to trade Crisp, and if no deal is struck, Coco is going to the bench. There's no way Ellsbury comes to Fenway to serve as a fourth outfielder.
The torch officially was passed when Terry Francona - pacifying Sox fans who were threatening to burn down the ballpark - finally benched Crisp and put Ellsbury into the starting lineup for Game 6 against the Indians in the ALCS. Ellsbury started the final six postseason games, all wins. In 11 postseason games, he batted .360 with four doubles, four RBIs, eight runs, three walks, and two stolen bases.
Coco played a great center field for the Sox last summer, but his bat has been soft for two seasons and there's simply no denying Ellsbury his shot this year.
A little awkward, no?
"Coco and I talk, but we never mention anything about who's going to start or anything like that," said Ellsbury. "We know that competition is going to make us better individually and better as a team. Whoever wins the spot, wins the spot. I think that's kind of how we both view it. He's been very helpful from Day One when I met him last year in spring training."
