Don’t expect to see Jacoby Ellsbury — or an end to the questions about his toughness — anytime soon. The Red Sox announced Thursday that Ellsbury, just days into his return from four cracked ribs, fractured a fifth rib attempting a diving catch against the Phillies on May 23 and will likely be out until roughly the All-Star break — at a minimum.
“An MRI of Jacoby’s thoracic spine and posterior rib area … revealed a non-displaced rib fracture and edema in the left posterior-axillary line,” Red Sox medical director Thomas Gill and Dr. Lewis Yocum said in a joint statement Thursday. “This fracture … is likely the result of a new injury which occurred when Jacoby dove and impacted the ground during his brief return to play. Jacoby will require several weeks of rest and physical therapy.”
Ellsbury, the subject of wild speculation about the length of his first rehab and the motives of his agent, Scott Boras, will spend the next two weeks rehabbing at the Athletes’ Performance Institute in Arizona.
