Ellsbury could be the next Ted Williams

Melky Cabrera is the next Mark Kotsay

MLB

Reggie Willits career OPS:  737

Melky Cabrera career OPS:  738

D'oh!!!!!! (21 HRs to 0...yet Melky only is up by .001 over featherweight Willits...)

Minors

Ellsbury:  812
Willits: 786
Cabrera:  781

Facts > Nyy1

try again Hater

How old was Willits when he came into the league?  How old was Ellsbury?  How old was Melky?  Right.

If Melky had been in A, and AA ball for the last two seasons, and AAA this season, like Ellsbury was at that age, Ellsbury's numbers wouldn't even be close.  So keep calling Melky a ".275" hitter without recognizing he was 21 and 22 when playing full time in MLB, and Ellsbury was playing college and A ball at those ages. 

If you really want to understand the potential, look at Melky's last tour in AAA.  You can't seem to grasp the concept that Melky's "medoicre" numbers in the major leagues have to be looked at in the context of his age. 

.385 in AAA at age 21 > .298 in AAA at age 23. 

Analysis > Mell

Sheep

I didn't bring up Willits you clown, you did.  Just throwing it back in your face that the guy you ignorantly compare to Ellsbury looks a lot more like your boy "Melkman".

And Ellsbury is not even a year older than Cabrera and is putting up better numbers, these are facts.  Age is not that big of a difference as you would have everyone believe.  So Cabrera put up mostly worse minor league numbers between 18-21, so what.  He hasn't improved on them from the last two years in the majors.  You've got a crystal ball telling you he's more likely to turn into the next Johnny Damon than Ellsbury?  You assume because he started younger that he's guaranteed to grow exponentially.  And Melky is 5-11 200 lbs...Ellsbury's got 2 inches on him and weighs 185.  Guess who's more likely to fill out a bit?

Bottom line:  Your argument that Melky is "heads and shoulders" above Ellsbury is FALSE.  No one can predict the future, but your spin job is dizzying.  They're both kids seperated by 11 months and time will tell who ulitmately is the better player.  Your hater act with the ridiculous Scott Podsednik and Reggie Willits comparisons is baseless and pretty pathetic.

"Your hater act with the ridiculous Scott Podsednik and Reggie Willits comparisons is baseless and pretty pathetic."

I'm sorry, should I have compared him to Ted Williams instead, because he's much closer to Williams than Willits.  Sure he is.  Love the Johnny Damon reference though (see below).   

I've said it enough already, but a guy playing at Melky's age at the level Melky was at is much more likely to see his numbers improve than a guy who's a 24 year old rookie.  Look at what guys like Upton, Sizemore,  Bernie Williams, and yes, Johnny Damon did after getting a taste of AAA or MLB ball at an early age.  There's a huge difference between AA competition and MLB competition, and there's a huge difference between a guy's ability at 21 and his ability at 24.  Why you can't grasp that is difficult to understand, but I get the feeling it's just that you don't want to.

Do you really want to use Johnny Damon as the guy by whom we're going to measure Melky and Jacoby?  Should've done your homework pal.

Damon was a full time Major Leaguer at age 21, and by the time he was the age Ellsbury is now, he had 2 and a half seasons under his belt.  In those seasons, from age 21 to 23, Damon went .274, 17 hr, 121 rbi and 163 runs in 338 MLB games.   Melky was a full time major leaguer at age 21,  and has gone .276, 21 hr, 140 rbi and 158 runs in 318 MLB games between ages 20 and 22.  Ellsbury hit .317, 1hr, 19 rbi and 28 runs in the NY Penn League when he was 21.  Most of the guys he played against were selling insurance within a year of those games.    Nice comparison.

Jacoby came out of college, played A and AA ball at age 22, AA and AAA ball at age 23.  His average minor league season was .313, 5.6 hr, 62 rbi, 97 runs, and 59 sb.  Coco Crisp went .299, 8.3, 56 rbi, 93 runs and 49 sb on average.  Crisp, like Ellsbury, was in A ball at age 21, AA and AAA at age 22 and AAA and MLB at age 23. 

Willits' was .301, 4.7 hr, 55 rbi, 105 runs and 43 steals on average.  Juan Pierre averaged .330, 0, 49, 90, 63 in the minor leagues, and was roughly the same age and experience level as Ellsbury at the time.  Chone Figgins was .274, 4, 50, 92, 42 in the minor leagues at the same level and a similar age. 

Are they all the "next Ted Williams" also?  Jacoby's just like the other guys on that list.  He's basically Coco Crisp, the guy you sox fans are itching to run out of town in favor of Ellsbury.  Come to think of it, I seem to remember hearing how Crisp was the "next Johnny Damon too". 

Good luck with that.