Major League Baseball

Ellsbury has heel pain in addition to injured hip

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 1:24 p.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) Another week, another ailment for the increasingly brittle Jacoby Ellsbury.

The 34-year-old New York Yankees center fielder has plantar fasciitis, extending a stay on the disabled list that began with an oblique injury and was prolonged when he hurt a hip.

''It's just trying to get him back to a point here he can start in on baseball activities,'' Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Monday.

Ellsbury got hurt early in spring training and has been on the disabled list since the start of the season. He did not play in any exhibition games from March 1 until March 24 because of the oblique injury and finished spring training 1 for 14.

While the oblique has healed, Ellsbury received a cortisone injection to a hip on April 10 and New York had hoped he would resume baseball activities last Friday. Then his right heel started hurting.

''I think he's had it at times in the past. I don't think it's a serious thing,'' Boone said. ''He's just got to get right to be able to start back on baseball activities and then getting into and playing in games.''

A backup outfielder after losing the starting center field job to Aaron Hicks last season, Ellsbury is guaranteed $21,142,857 annually through 2020 as part of a $153 million, seven-year contract that includes a $21 million team option for 2021 with a $5 million buyout.

Ellsbury hit .264 with seven homers and 39 RBIs in 112 games last season. He was sidelined from May 24 until June 26 after sustaining a concussion against the outfield wall while making a spectacular catch to rob Kansas City's Alcides Escobar.

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