BOSTON, Sept. 14 — Jacoby Ellsbury had a pair of sunglasses sitting on the bill of his Boston Red Sox cap during batting practice. The sun was shining, but he never donned the glasses and instead stayed fashionable. Ellsbury took dozens of swings and the glasses never budged.</p> The immovable glasses could be a perfect metaphor for Ellsbury’s status on the Red Sox. Ellsbury has shown the team and this passionate baseball city what he can do, and he looks like a player who refuses to budge from the lineup. Find me some at-bats, Ellsbury has screamed with his stylish play.</p> Although the Red Sox have a high-priced outfield with Manny Ramírez ($20 million average annual salary), J. D. Drew ($14 million) and Coco Crisp ($5.17 million), Ellsbury, who earns the rookie minimum of $380,000, is forcing the team to devise ways to squeeze him into the lineup.</p> Ellsbury gives Boston speed, improved defense and unbridled enthusiasm, something that any team can use. He has hit safely in 11 consecutive games since being recalled from Class AAA Pawtucket on Sept. 1 and has given Boston an interesting problem. </p> “Rather than a dilemma, I think it’s an addition to our way of winning that is very helpful,” Manager Terry Francona said. “He can do some things to help us win games. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt like, ‘Boy, we’ve got too many good players.’ We’ll figure it out.”</p> If the fans at Fenway Park, not Francona and General Manager Theo Epstein, were compiling the lineup, Ellsbury would start over Drew. Drew, who signed a five-year, $70 million free agent contract in the off-season, has been disappointing, with a .263 average, 8 home runs and 50 runs batted in. </p> Meanwhile, Ellsbury is batting .373 with a surprising 3 homers in 59 at-bats. He managed only 2 homers in 436 minor league at-bats at Pawtucket and Class AA Portland this season. </p> Still, Francona has stressed that he has no plans to abandon Drew. Starting Ellsbury over Drew, the Red Sox’ biggest free-agent signing, would be a bold move by Francona.</p> Like the Yankees’ Joba Chamberlain, another rookie who has had an impact, Ellsbury is of American Indian descent. Ellsbury, out of Oregon State, is the first Navajo to play in the major leagues. He is smart enough to sidestep questions about how much he expects to play in the postseason.</p> “Just everything has happened so quickly so far that I really haven’t had time to think about that,” Ellsbury said. “I think that’s a good thing. I’m not worrying.”</p> Since the Red Sox selected Ellsbury in the first round of the 2005 draft, he has been compared with Johnny Damon. Ellsbury once dressed up as Damon for Halloween and called the comparison to the former Red Sox and Yankee outfielder “a great compliment to me.” </p> But Ellsbury, whom Baseball America rated as the Red Sox’ best prospect — ahead of Clay Buchholz and Dustin Pedroia — also said he wanted to be distinctive. </p> “I try to be my own player,” he said. “I really haven’t modeled my game after anybody.”</p> But sounding as if it was Halloween again, Ellsbury said that he had only “seen and heard about” the Yankees on television. Ellsbury explained that he had never been on the same field as Damon. That changed Friday night; Crisp (hip) and Ramírez (oblique) were out with injuries.</p> Ron Johnson, who managed Ellsbury at Pawtucket this season, also managed Damon in Class AAA for the Kansas City Royals in 1995. Johnson said that Damon and Ellsbury are both lean, left-handed hitters “who can fly,” have superb instincts and are extremely competitive.</p> “Anybody is going to make those comparisons,” Johnson said. “If you look at them, how could you not? If you see them side by side, you’d say these guys are pretty similar. And they play the same way.”</p> Johnson said Ellsbury was “a baseball player with speed,” meaning Ellsbury understands the intricacies of the game and can exploit teams even more because of his legs. Sometimes, Johnson said, Ellsbury is in such a groove as a hitter that “the bat was an extension of his arm.”</p> Ramírez, Drew and Crisp are all signed for next season, so, unless Boston sheds one of them, Ellsbury could be fighting for at-bats in 2008, too. </p> Ellsbury said, “I don’t know what the future is next year.” </p> Actually, the future has already come for Ellsbury. And he does not want to budge. </p> </p>
