The Red Sox really have something special in the young Oregon native Jacoby Ellsbury.  I was listening to Dennis & Callahan this morning on WEEI radio and Jerry Remy was their guest.  Remy didn’t want to go too far into this, but he told the duo that he sees shades of Rickey Henderson in the 24-year-old Sox outfielder.

Now let’s not compare Ellsbury to Henderson, we all know it’s way too early for that, but this kid is the real deal and he’s provided such a sparkplug at the top of the potent Red Sox hitting attack.  Ellsbury isn’t your normal prospect.  When the front office drafted Ellsbury 23rd overall in 2005, they obviously knew what they were doing.  These days we see many hyped-up prospects come and go, but it looks like Jacoby Ellsbury is here to stay.  Nevermind the pressure that comes with playing in Boston, Ellsbury has shown he can go out night after night and get the job done.

From a fantasy analysis, those owners who drafted Ellsbury most likely got him for a great bargain. According to ESPN, sis ADP (Average Draft Position) was somewhere around 157.  Now, let’s play a little numbers game.

Player A: .283-110-10-56-75
Player B: .280-119-12-57-78

Player A is the pace that Jacoby Ellsbury is on, and that’s based on a pace of 494 at bats in 2008. Player B is the 2007 season stats of Jose Reyes.  Reyes had 681 AB last year.  If Ellsbury puts up these numbers then I will be quite surprised, the odds of it aren’t very good, but hopefully in the case of Boston fans(and fantasy owners) his real stats will be similar. Now Jose Reyes’ ADP was 4.5.  Maybe fantasy owners drafted him so high because of his power potential(he did hit 19 HR in ‘06).  I’m not buying that, people have been saying the same thing about Carl Crawford and his “power potential” which has yet to show up.  I’m not knocking Jose Reyes, but I do think he’s overvalued in Fantasy baseball.

Jacoby Ellsbury is good, very good. He currently leads the league in SB and is 4th in the AL in runs. Is Ellsbury better than Reyes? Probably not, at least not at this point in his career(mind you he’s still a rookie).  But if the pace continues, should he be drafted in top 20 next year?  10? If the trend continues with the way Reyes has been drafted then we should certainly see him climb the ADP ranks. For now, we’ll just have to  wait.  And while we wait, let’s enjoy watching this 2008 American League Rookie of the Year.