It was approximately three hours before the start of Wednesday’s game, and Jacoby Ellsbury was talking with Red Sox traveling secretary Jack McCormick about his ticket requests for the All-Star game.

Ellsbury was asked about the number of tickets he’d need for the game as well as the sundry festivities, including Monday night’s Home Run Derby. One of his teammates misheard the exchange.

“You’re in the Home Run Derby?” the player asked with some surprise.

“Yeah,” grinned Ellsbury. “They saw me hitting bombs in B.P. today.”

The display wasn’t limited to batting practice. For that matter, it wasn’t limited to yesterday.

The Red Sox had fallen behind, 1-0, in the top of the first inning on Wednesday when Ellsbury stepped to the plate as the leadoff hitter, took a ball from Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero and then promptly assaulted the next pitch, a 91 mph fastball over the plate, the ball screaming over the Toronto bullpen and into the right field bleachers.

It was the beginning of a 3-for-5 night for the All-Star centerfielder in which he hit the homer as well as two doubles (one a two-run shot off the Wall in left-center) in the Sox’ 6-4 victory. (Recap.)

The homer was Ellsbury’s 10th of the season, as the 27-year-old established a new career high with nearly half the season remaining. He also matched a career high with three extra-base hits in a game, and is on pace for 68, a mark that would shatter his previous high of 45 (in 2009).

The huge night continued Ellsbury’s thunderous march towards his forthcoming All-Star appearance in Arizona. In his last six games, he is now 13-for-27 (.481), getting on base and stealing bags in the fashion of an ideal leadoff hitter yet hammering the ball with the authority of a middle-of-the-order masher.

That Ellsbury is performing as a standout atop the order likely comes as little surprise. His speed, athleticism and knack for slashing line drives all over the field made him seem like a hitter ideally suited to hit first for as long as scouts have been watching him play, first at tiny Madras High School in Oregon and then in college at Oregon State.

But the Sox were convinced that Ellsbury was not merely a singles hitter when they drafted him, noting as they scouted him prior to the 2005 draft that in batting practice, he had the ability to get under the ball and backspin it into and beyond the bullpen. The Sox believed that when the outfielder learned his stroke, he could become a double-digit home run hitter.

Still, the evidence was not always immediately apparent. He started his career by hitting one homer in 35 games for the Lowell Spinners in 2005, and after clearing the fences seven times in 2006, he went deep just twice in his first 112 games of 2007, as he moved from Double-A to Triple-A and then the majors.

In Pawtucket, manager Ron Johnson (now the Sox’ first base coach) had seen the reports of the outfielder’s raw power, but it was a while before he received a first-hand display.

“When he came up to Triple-A, he was a guy who hit a lot of balls, shoot, over the third-base dugout. You’d look up and go, ‘Look out!’” Johnson recalled earlier this year, pantomiming the act of someone diving out of the way of a foul ball sprayed the opposite way. “But there was one night in Rochester, though. He turned on a fastball way out of the ballpark.

“This didn’t just get out. It was way the [expletive] out. I was like, ‘Damn, this guy…I’d be down at third base thinking this guy was going to hit me, then all of a sudden, all of a sudden it went ‘Whooom.’ Right then and there, I said, ‘This guy’s got some juice.’”

The ball, hit off of former Twins prospect Kevin Slowey, ricocheted off a back wall at Frontier Field, well over 400 feet from home plate. It was a tantalizing glimpse of what Ellsbury might one day prove capable of delivering with greater frequency. Four years later, the 2011 season has represented the comprehensive fulfillment of all of that potential.

This season, Ellsbury’s approach has evolved. He understands his swing, understands the pitches he can damage, and he is crushing the ball with a consistency that he has never previously displayed. His homer on Wednesday was a perfect example.

“I just tried to get a pitch I could drive early in the count,” said Ellsbury. “Fortunately [Romero] gave me something I was looking for over the plate.”

It is that approach – go to the plate with a plan and implement it – that has allowed him to emerge as one of the top multi-dimensional players in the game. Ellsbury is hitting for average (his .310 mark is seventh in the AL) and power (career-high 10 homers to go with 36 extra-base hits, tied for 13th most in the AL). Indeed, his .475 slugging percentage this year puts him ahead of former Sox teammate Victor Martinez (.470).

He is getting on base at a .369 clip that ranks 15th in the AL. He leads the junior circuit with 28 steals (albeit with a league-leading 10 caught stealings). He has been tracking down nearly everything in center field (advanced metrics place him among the top handful or so of outfielders in the game this year in terms of ground covered).

“He’s been terrific in the outfield, on the bases and at the plate,” noted manager Terry Francona. “He’s settled into that leadoff role and he’s been terrific.”

When Ellsbury first arrived in the majors in 2007, it was clear that he had the talent to emerge as a dynamic player capable of impacting the game in numerous ways. In 2011, he has seen his diverse skill set come together in extraordinary fashion, in a year when he has assumed his place as one of the best players in the game.

“When he first got here, I knew he was going to be a great player,” said Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield. “He’s got all five tools and he’s taking advantage of the opportunity that he’s getting better, he’s maturing. He’s an All-Star. What more can you say?”