TAMPA — This is the challenge for Jacoby Ellsbury: Stay on the field.
That’s really what his season is about. Ellsbury had a good day Wednesday testing his tight right calf in a minor league game, getting five plate appearances and playing five innings in center field.
It’s Opening Day or bust.
Afterward, Ellsbury, who has been out since March 14, declared himself on target for the opener in Houston on Tuesday.
“You couldn’t really ask for anything more, I did a little bit of everything at the plate, in the field and on the bases,’’ the 30-year-old Ellsbury said of Wednesday’s game against the Class-A Pirates, in which he went 1-for-4 with a walk. He hit the ball hard three times, caught two fly balls and moved well in the outfield and on the bases.
“I want to be ready for Opening Day,’’ Ellsbury said. “I feel very good right now. We still have [three] games left. I got 11 at-bats the last two games.
“If this were regular season there would be no question [I’m playing].”
Ellsbury is a difference-maker. He will make the Yankees lineup go, but he has to stay on the field — and he knows that better than anyone else.
The Yankees chose to spend their biggest wad of position player cash on Ellsbury and not Robinson Cano this offseason. They gave the center fielder a seven-year deal worth $153 million. The Mariners broke the bank with Cano, going to 10 years and $240 million.
Big injuries have sidelined Ellsbury in the past with the Red Sox. He averaged 96 games over the last four seasons. When healthy, he has been a dynamic player, and that is why it is essential Ellsbury is healthy and stays on the field, especially when you compare his numbers over the last four years to Cano’s numbers.
While Ellsbury has averaged 96 games over the past four years, Cano has averaged 160 games per season. Cano averaged 620 at-bats, 98 runs, a .312 batting average, a .906 OPS, 29 home runs, 194 hits and 107 RBIs over that span.
Over that same time period, Ellsbury averaged 404 at-bats, 66 runs, a .297 batting average, an .809 OPS, 11 home runs, 120 hits and 47 RBIs.
Cano carried the offensive load for the Yankees in many ways and this spring is on fire, batting .465 over 43 at-bats for Seattle. Ellsbury has 23 at-bats and is hitting .174.
The first step is for Ellsbury to get over this calf injury.
“Oh, I think he will be ready for Opening Day,’’ general manager Brian Cashman said after watching the game along with assistant GM Billy Eppler.
The Yankees figure to play Ellsbury in another minor league game Thursday and then will reevaluate.
“Our intent was to play him over here the rest of the way before we go to Houston,’’ Cashman said at the Yankees minor league complex. “We’ll talk about it. We’ll make it up as we go along, like we usually do.’’
If Ellsbury stays on the minor league side and has a setback, he can bebackdated for disabled list purposes.
“But he’s bouncing around so well maybe we should change that [plan],’’ Cashman said.
Cashman said he knows Ellsbury is vital to Yankees’ success.
“He provides a lot, with 162 games and the teams in this league, we are going to need everything we can get,’’ Cashman said. “He’s a big piece.’’
Ellsbury had been flying under the radar because of the Yankees’ other major acquisitions and the Derek Jeter Long Goodbye, but the calf injury has put Ellsbury in the spotlight.
“I’m just reading some stuff on the news and it can be anything,’’ he said of spring training news. “I don’t even want to say some of the stuff that they’ve reported on with guys and that sort of thing. It’s kind of funny, but I get it. I play in a big market. I understand.’’
If Ellsbury stays on the field, he will make the kind of news Yankees fans will want to read.