Ellsbury chosen Red Sox's best minor league player

BOSTON — Former Oregon State outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury has been selected as the Boston Red Sox's top minor leaguer for 2006 by the Boston Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Ellsbury will receive the award at the 68th Boston BBWAA Awards Dinner Jan. 11.

Ellsbury, who earned All-America honors while playing for OSU from 2003-05, combined for a .303 batting average with seven home runs and 51 RBIs over 111 regular-season games with Class A Wilmington and AA Portland (Maine) in 2006.

The 23-year-old had 41 stolen bases and committed just two errors in 109 total starts in center field.

Ellsbury was the 23rd overall player selected in the 2005 Major League Baseball draft and was Boston's first selection in that year's draft. Earlier in 2005, he had helped Oregon State to the Pac-10 Conference championship and a berth in the College World Series.