Not Natural

I was checking out the Yankees Website after a great win against the Twins and, somehow, I ended up reading the following passage from the MLB regarding the ever so swift, Jacoby Ellsbury. The text refers to write-ins for the MLB’s AS Game ballot (a player that is not featured on the ballot can be voted for, however, you must write their name in at the bottom, manually). Apparently, Coco Crisp has the Boston CF spot locked up while Jacoby is forced into the write-in category.

Or Jacoby Ellsbury? Deemed baseball’s next “Natural,” the multitalented outfielder naturally is preempted on the ballot by Coco Crisp — a case of the traditional ballot choice of experience before potential.

Now, my comment has nothing to do with a Jacoby AS Game appearance as I could really care less, however, I must ask about this “Natural” nickname. This nickname is thrown around seemingly everyday. Whether it’s Rick Ankiel or Jacoby Ellsbury, writers love to call upon the memorable image of Roy Hobbs in order to create some sort of deeper story. Recently, I also read a text that dubbed Josh Hamilton the next Natural, who is actually a better fit for the title.

The point of this post is that Jacoby Ellsbury is not the “Natural” (I’ve never even heard of anyone calling him this until I saw this particular passage). He’s just Jacoby Ellsbury and sometimes, that’s all there is to the story. Lots of writers enjoy packaging meaningful stories into pointless and hollow titles that they can immediately link to any given player on any given day (I’m waiting for Carlos Quentin to get the title). Baseball fans are tired of this stuff, seriously.