Jacoby Ellsbury Selected by the Red Sox in the First Round
June 7, 2005
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State's Jacoby Ellsbury was taken in the first round of the 2005 Major League Baseball draft on Tuesday by the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox. Ellsbury (Madras, Ore./Madras HS), a junior outfielder, was the 23rd player taken overall, and he was the fourth player in OSU history to be selected in the first round.
Three other Beavers were taken during the first day's 18 rounds of the draft. Senior first baseman Andy Jenkins (Salem, Ore./South Salem HS, Mt. Hood CC) was taken in the 11th round (336th pick overall) by the Florida Marlins; junior pitcher Nate Fogle (Gresham, Ore./Centennial HS, Mt. Hood CC) was taken in the 11th round (339th) by the Texas Rangers; and junior outfielder Tyler Graham (Great Falls, Mont./C.M. Russell HS) was taken in the 14th round (430th) by the Chicago Cubs.
The draft continues Wednesday with rounds 19 through 50. The second-ranked Beavers (44-9) continue their season this weekend with the best-of-three NCAA Super Regional against 18th-ranked Southern California (40-20); games will be Saturday at 7 p.m., Sunday at 6 p.m. and, if necessary, Monday at 4 p.m. Games may be televised by ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU; specifics will be available later in the week.
Ellsbury is Oregon State's first first-round draft pick since pitcher Mike Thurman was taken with the 31st overall pick by the Montreal Expos in 1994. OSU's initial first-round pick was shortstop-outfielder Steve Lyons, who was the 19th overall pick by Boston in 1981, and the other Beaver to go in the first round was pitcher Scott Christman, taken with the 17th overall pick by the Chicago White Sox in 1993.
Ellsbury's comments following OSU's practice on Tuesday:
(What's your day been like?) "It's been crazy. I had a final today (Computer Science), but it's been amazing. I was nervous this morning; last night, I really wasn't. But waking up ... you've worked your whole life to play in the Major Leagues and here's the first step in it. My brother (OSU freshman Matthew Ellsbury) came over and a bunch of my friends, and when my name was called 23rd, there was a lot of high-fives and a lot of celebrating. It was fun."
(How did you find out?) "I was watching MLB.com, that's how I found out. My adviser had mentioned I had a good shot of going to the Red Sox, but the draft is crazy and you never know what's going to happen. It's a big relief ... I can't even say how I felt. It was an awesome feeling."
(Have the Red Sox been in contact with you yet?) "I've talked to the local scout, John Booher, and then about 10 minutes after getting notice that I was the 23rd pick, Theo Epstein, the general manager, called and congratulated me on it. It's definitely been an awesome day."
(Has it been a relief to have that out of the way so you can go back to concentrating on OSU's Super Regional?) "Definitely. Our goal this whole year has been to go to Omaha (and the College World Series), and we have to play USC this weekend. USC is our priority right now, and hopefully we'll win two of three."
(Will it let you focus a little more, personally, on the college season now that all the draft speculation is out of the way?) "Definitely. I have one more final tomorrow (Public Health) and the draft is over, so now I just have to worry about baseball, pretty much."
