Ellsbury not in Williams's League

To say that Jacoby Ellsbury will be as good as Ted Williams is absurd. The only thing the two of them have in common is they both bat left handed.

Williams hit 521 homeruns and recorded 2,654 hits in just 19 seasons. He lost three consecutive seasons to serving in the United States Marine Corps in World War II, three seasons where he could have compiled over another 80 homeruns on 420 hits. In 1952, Williams was called back to active duty during the Korean War in May of 1952. He played in just six games in 1952 and when he returned in the second half of the 1953 season he played in only 37 games. The Splendid Splinter missed out on fives seasons where he could have had 700 more hits with 135 more homeruns.

To tell me that Ellsbury is going to have 185 hits with 30 homeruns in his first full year in the majors, you are ridiculous. Ellsbury does not resemble Williams. Saying the young 24-year-old resembles the Greatest Hitter Whoever Lived is like saying Johnny Damon resembles Williams. Damon is the closest current major leaguer that Ellsbury can be compared to.

When Damon came into the league, he was fast, doubles and triples hitter who would hit the homerun ball on occasion, the same as Ellsbury. Since he can score from second base on a wild pitch, it puts him in a category above and beyond Damon. Manny Ramirez, Frank Thomas, Ken Griffey and Gary Sheffield are the only current ballplayers who are close to Williams’s territory.

The only person Ellsbury has to potential to being like is Griffey but the Sox rook is not built to hit homeruns like Griffey. Griffey still had the swing and power to hit the long ball. Ellsbury has not hit more than four homeruns since he has been a professional. The last time he hit seven homeruns in a season was in his freshman year at Oregon State.

Just like there will never be another Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle or Nolan Ryan; there will never be another Ted Williams. They are called the great ones for a reason. If you put everyone on the same pedestal then being great has no meaning anymore.