Yankees Jacoby Ellsbury Hurting; Dustin Fowler Hits for Cycle

Following a terrific wall-crashing catch on Monday night, Yankees center fielder, Jacoby Ellsbury has been diagnosed with a bruised nerve in his left elbow.

Will they or won’t they? A day after the Yankees placed first baseman Greg Bird on the disabled list with a right foot injury, the club must now decide to whether or not to send Jacoby Ellsbury with him.

Ellsbury, who is hitting .282/.344/.412 with three home runs and nine RBI this season, has exceeded expectations during the first month of play. Coming off a string of less than stellar campaigns, the former Golf Glove winner has played a much more aggressive brand of baseball — as evidenced by hurling himself into the center field wall at Yankee Stadium.

Already an impressive 7-for-8 in successful stolen base attempts, the 33-year-old Ellsbury has put much of the negativity from his naysayers out of mind — showing glimpses of what the Yankees expected upon signing him back in 2014.

Unfortunately, injuries have become a bit of a staple for the 2011 Comeback Player of the Year. At the very least, this type of ailment can only be attributed to excessive hustle and a continued effort to play a stellar center field.

Hopefully, Ellsbury can avoid a trip to the DL and continue his climb back to respectability among those inside baseball circles.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi told MLB.com that the club will wait a few days before determining their course of action. This sounds awfully familiar to what they did with Bird, who withered away on a bad foot — dropping his batting average to .100 before being shelved indefinitely.

If it looks like Ellsbury will be unavailable for this weekend’s affair against the Cubs in Chicago, you can expect a roster move to be made.

"“I think you have to see how available he is as a player going into a National League city,” Girardi said. “It’s different if you’re in an American League city. He’s stiff today. So if he hasn’t made some improvement and we feel like he’s not a complete player, then we’ve probably got to make a move.”"

Filling in for Ellsbury on Tuesday night against the Blue Jays, Aaron Hicks went 2-for-5, slugging his fifth home run of the season. Hicks, who is hitting .300/.419/.640 with 11 RBI in only 50 at-bats, would slide into Ellsbury’s starting role, should he inevitably hit the DL.

Speaking of outfielders who are excelling during the early part of the new year — Triple-A Scranton outfielder Dustin Fowler hit a walk-off home run on Sunday to complete the cycle.

Fowler, 22, is steadily making a name for himself following his first Spring Training with the Yankees.

Next: Even Mr. October Trying to Help Bird

Ranked as the No. 9 prospect in the Yankees’ organization by MLB Pipeline, should any of the big league outfielders go down for an extended period of time, it’s entirely possible Fowler gets added to the 40-man roster before a subsequent call-up.