Ellsbury will be better off not trying to hit too many home runs into the Yankee short porch, will maximize his offense by using whole field says scout-Carig

12/4/13, "Talent evaluators' takes on new Yankee Jacoby Ellsbury," Marc Carig, Newsday

"Here's more takes on Ellsbury from talent evaluators:

He's a playmaker: "He's a big piece to what the Red Sox did this year. He plays a premium position, gets on base, and hits on top of the lineup. It's a big loss. From the top of the order, he's getting on base, he's a threat to steal and he hits. You would think there should be an uptick [in home runs]."

Approach at plate: "If he starts, with that short porch, to try and pull too much and hit some home runs as he well could, he's going to ruin his offensive approach. If he stays focused on [getting] on-base, hitting the ball in the gaps, using the whole field, he'll be fine as long as his legs last. That wouldn't be the worst thing to do because...in New York, he's probably going to be somewhere between 15, 18, 20 homers and that might be by accident by just drilling some of those mistake fastballs early in the count."

Can he stay healthy? "He plays terrific defense, steals bases, and he'll create runs for you obviously. Speed can decline. To his credit, he keeps himself in good shape, though he's been injury prone which bothers me."

Complementary piece: "When you're paying a guy that kind of money for that length of service, you've got to step back and say can this guy carry the club for 10 days or two weeks. Can he pick us up out of a slump? He's not that guy. Would he be a terrific complementary piece to a club right now? Absolutely.""

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