While the Red Sox' offense has been better than expected, this teams needs all the help it can get its hands on, and Jacoby Ellsbury is one person that the Sox miss.
Ellsbury might not have the plate discipline one expects from a leadoff hitter, but he certainly has the other attribute leadoff men need in spades: speed.
Last season, the Red Sox were fifth in the bigs with 127 steals. Ellsbury accounted for 70 of them. This year, Boston ranks 27th with 10 steals. Ellsbury has two of those, and Dustin Pedroia is the only other player with more than one — and he has two.
It's not just stolen bases and speed that the Red Sox miss out of Ellsbury. Merely being on base can disrupt a pitcher's timing. When a pitcher takes his focus off the hitter and puts it on the runner, all the better for the offense. Clay Buchholz has struggled with this in the past, and observers of the Red Sox can certainly point to how the youngster seemed to struggle with runners on base. Focusing on staying in control and getting the hitter out has been a key to Buchholz's recent strong play.
The flip side of Ellsbury's absence is that Jeremy Hermida and Darnell McDonald have filled in admirably for Ellsbury and Mike Cameron. Both Hermida's batting average and on-base percentage are under .300, but he's a source of power. McDonald's .264 batting average to go along with a .350 on-base percentage and .491 slugging percentage has been a revelation, and even Jonathan Van Every has contributed in the little times he's been at-bat.
However, as good as these players have been, none are the talent that Ellsbury is, and all are best utilized at the moment off the bench.
How much will Ellsbury help the Red Sox? How much do they miss him?
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