Watch: Yankees’ Jacoby Ellsbury Crashes Into Center-Field Wall For Catch, Suffers Concussion

Jacoby Ellsbury made an amazing wall-catch on the first pitch of the New York Yankees‘ 3-0 home victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night, but the snag came at a cost.

Jacoby Ellsbury Crashes into Wall at Yankee Stadium, gets Concussion

The 33-year-old outfielder collided into the center-field wall following a long run to rob Alcides Escobar of an extra-base hit. Ellsbury fell to the ground at Yankee Stadium, and after being tended to by trainer Steve Donohue, was diagnosed with a sprained neck and a concussion, the latter of which was announced in the fifth inning.

Ellsbury left at the top of the first inning and was replaced by Aaron Hicks. 

“He’s on the seven-day concussion DL,” manager Joe Girardi said of Ellsbury, who is in his fourth season with the Yankees, after the game. “Obviously we’ll have to make a move. We haven’t had a chance to talk about it yet.

“I haven’t had a chance to have a chance to talk to [GM Brian Cashman] about it,” Girardi continued. “A lot of times when you have a situation when you feel it’s going to be short (the DL stint), you might do something different than if you felt it was going to be long.”

Girardi added that when he and Donohue evaluated Ellsbury, the center fielder told them he “felt like it was his neck that was bothering him a little bit. Nothing to do with his head.” The Yankees manager called Ellsbury’s injury a “whiplash.”

Several Yankees players, meanwhile, lauded Ellsbury — a 2011 all-star and Gold Glove winner — for his spectacular play.

“It set the tone of the game,” stated left fielder Brett Gardner (via the Associated Press), who had also sprinted for Escobar’s drive and was the first to check on Ellsbury’s condition. “Escobar is standing on third, or it’s 1-0 if it comes out of his glove.”

Rookie right fielder Aaron Judge also complimented his teammate.

“Not too many people in the game make that play,” said Judge. “I don’t know how he held onto that ball. He hit that fence pretty hard.”

This is not the first time this season Ellsbury has crashed into the center field wall at Yankee Stadium.

On May 1, the outfielder slammed into the wall to make a catch on a hit by Toronto’s Ryan Goins. Nevertheless, his errant toss in the sixth inning of that game led the Blue Jays to score on a two-run sacrifice fly:

Following that play, Ellsbury missed two games due to a bruised nerve in his throwing elbow.

The Yankees (27-17, 1st in AL East) lead their four-game home series against the Royals 2-1, with Thursday afternoon’s finale postponed due to rain.

The Bombers next host the Oakland Athletics for the opener of a three-game series on Friday at 7:05 pm EST.

Article by Pablo Mena