One If By Land: Better approach at the plate giving Ellsbury more chances to steal bases

Jacoby Ellsbury doesn't talk much in specifics about his approach at the plate, but Dave Magadan made some interesting points in a quick interview, points that apply both to the all-time single-season steals leader and to Red Sox hitters in general (with notes and statistics included where appropriate):

Has his approach at the plate evolved since the year started, working counts, that sort of thing?
"Yeah. He's a little more confident right now to go deeper in the count. That's really everything. If you're scared to go to one or two strikes right off the bat, you're not going to see a lot of pitches. Right now, he's confident that, just because he gets strike one, it's not the end of the at-bat. He's maturing as a hitter. He's a little more comfortable in his own skin at the plate, and when he gets in hitters' counts, he's looking to drive the ball a little bit. He's improved."

Ellsbury's out-of-the-strike-zone swing percentage was 26.3 percent in early July, second-highest on the team. It's now 24.6 percent, ahead of Mike Lowell and creeping up on Jason Varitek.

One more: He saw 3.58 pitches per plate appearance last year and has seen 3.75 pitches per plate appearance this year.

What does it take to develop that confident to hit with two strikes?
"It's probably a couple of things. This year, he's really understood the logic behind being ready to hit. When you're ready to hit and the ball is in the hitting zone, you're going to pick the ball up. You're going to pick up the offspeed pitches. When everything is late and everything is happening (at once), you're almost striding and swinging at the same time. You tend not to recognize pitches. Now that he's really more consistently on time, he's picking the ball up better. He's got unbelievable hand-eye coordination. He just really doesn't swing and miss a lot. When he's on time and he gets a good pitch to hit, he hits it hard."

Red Sox, ranked by contact percentage:
1. Dustin Pedroia, 92.9
2. Mike Lowell, 89.3
3. Jacoby Ellsbury, 88.6
4. Kevin Youkilis, 81.5
5. J.D. Drew, 81.1
6. David Ortiz, 77.3
7. Jason Varitek, 75.7
8. Jason Bay, 73.2
9. Nick Green, 72.8

His first-pitch swinging percentage is way down from last year. Is that something you guys have talked about?
"Yeah. It's probably one of the few pet peeves I have as a hitting coach: Unless you're doing a lot of damage on the 0-0 count, I don't want guys swinging at the first pitch. I want guys ready to hit on the first pitch. If you get a good pitch to hit, I want you to be ready to hit it and drive it. But if you're hitting .270 on the first pitch with a .500 OPS, you're not doing a very good job. If you're hitting .270, that's what your on-base percentage is because you're putting the first pitch in play. We have some guys that do a lot of damage on the first pitch. Youkilis has a really good OPS. Mike Lowell. Nick Green. Those are guys that don't give away a lot of at-bats expanding on the first pitch. Jacoby does not have very good numbers on the first pitch.

"Some guys need the flow of the at-bat to start picking up the rhythm and get ready and see the ball out of the pitcher's hand. You look at the Home Run Derby: How many pitches do those guys take in the Home Run Derby? A lot. They do that for a reason -- to get some rhythm and pick up the ball. It's the same thing during a regular-season game."

Ellsbury swung at 25 percent of first pitches thrown to him last year. He's swung at 16 percent of first pitches thrown to him this year. The sample size might still be a little small, but that's a huge statistical drop.

To look at the numbers Magadan cited, here's how the Red Sox stack up when putting the first pitch in play this season:
1. Youkilis (21 PA), 1.678 OPS
2. Bay (57 PA), 1.439 OPS
3. Lowell (47 PA), 1.379 OPS
4. Varitek (32 PA), 1.150 OPS
5. Green (43 PA), .995 OPS
6. Drew (39 PA), .964 OPS
7. Ellsbury (41 PA), .694 OPS
8. Ortiz (45 PA), .667 OPS
9. Pedroia (21 PA), .472 OPS

Magadan, for what it's worth, swung at 17 percent of first pitches in his career. He OPS'ed .789 when swinging at the first pitch -- a tick higher than his career OPS of .767.

Did it a take a change to get it so his rhythm worked better taking pitches? Was he more comfortable going up and swinging before?
"I didn't make it a huge issue with him until this year. It's very hard with a young player to tell him, all of a sudden, 'Hey, you need to get deep in the count. I want you hitting 0-1.' It's tough. You need to let a guy get his feet wet and get comfortable being a major-league player. It's one thing to have patience when you're in A-ball or Double-A where guys aren't throwing a lot of strikes, anyway. But when you get here and guys are around the plate a little bit more, you're not going to see as many pitches.

"I wanted him to get a little comfortable with his swing and make teams fear him a little bit because that fear factor is what makes guys not want to throw the ball over the plate, too. If you're a guy that's not going to do anything with the bat, they're going to throw the ball over the plate. I wanted him to show teams that he could sting the ball, hit the ball with authority, and then gradually work into that patience and seeing pitches and all that. It's hard to do it the other way around."