How do you bat first for the Boston Red Sox with one of the best offensive teams in baseball, hit, .301, steal a major league leading high 70 bases, but finish 34th in runs scored scoring only 94 runs?

That's the problem the Red Sox have with Jacoby Ellsbury.

Ellsbury only walked 49 times in 691 plate appearances. That means he's only walking 7% of the time.

It's not like he showed any improvement over his first year either when he walked only 41 times in 609 plate appearances!

In 2009, Ellsbury was 113th in walks in MLB yet he was 10th in the AL in plate appearances.

If the Red Sox are going to have any chance of dethroning the Yankees, Elsbury is going to have to walk a at least 90-100 times; this would translate directly into an additional 20-25 runs scored which could make the difference.

Jacoby Ellsbury might be a stellar Fantasy baseball player again because of his steals, but that won't translate into wins for the Sox unless he walks significantly more.- Blake Kearny

Blake is a retired baseball scout (34 years) from Los Angeles, California. He currently runs a baseball school for children in Los Angeles.

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