Jacoby Ellsbury Injury: Updates on Yankees Star's Hamstring and Return

Updates from Wednesday, Sept. 24

Daniel Barbarisi of the Wall Street Journal passed along comments from Joe Girardi on Jacoby Ellsbury's chances of returning this season:

Updates from Sunday, Sept. 21

Bryan Hoch of MLB.com provides a synopsis of Jacoby Ellsbury discussing his injury status:

Updates from Saturday, Sept. 20

Fred Kerber of the New York Post provides an update on Jacoby Ellsbury's hamstring injury:

Wallace Matthews of ESPN previously noted Ellsbury may be shut down:

Original Text

New York Yankees outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury left the club's home encounter with the Toronto Blue Jays Friday with a hamstring injury, putting a screeching stop to an electric night for the veteran at the plate.

Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News noted the issue after Ellsbury appeared to hurt himself running the bases:

Ellsbury, 31, had registered two hits in his prior three games entering Friday and added to that positive momentum against Toronto with a two-run home run for No. 16 on the year. He left the game with his team in the lead due to his three RBI.

Entering Friday, Ellsbury was having a bit of a down year at the plate with a .269/.326/.411 slash with 154 hits, a team-leading 67 RBI and 93 strikeouts.

Currently in second place in the AL East at 78-74 before Friday's result, the Yankees will turn to a rotation in center field with names such as Brett Gardner—who moved from left to center after Ellsbury left Friday—and Ichiro Suzuki seeing time there. Friday, Chris Young manned left field after the lineup change.

New York will certainly miss his firepower at the plate as it wraps up two more critical games against the Blue Jays, a team that rests in third place in the AL East. After that, the first-place Baltimore Orioles come to town for a four-game stretch before a trip to Boston to close the season.

While not a crushing blow to New York's future ambitions, the sooner Ellsbury can return, the better.

Stats and info via ESPN.com unless otherwise specified.