ANAHEIM, Calif. -- There were times this season when Jacoby Ellsbury batted at the bottom of the Boston order, but it seems a virtual certainty that he’ll be hitting in the leadoff spot tonight.

“I don’t think it was entirely appropriate all year to hit him leadoff,” manager Terry Francona said yesterday, “because there were some struggles. But I think we acknowledged all year long that that’s where we wanted him to end up.”

A sensation last season after being called up from Pawtucket for good on Sept. 1, he batted .353 in 33 games and displayed his game-changing speed both on the bases — he stole 15 — and in center field, where he made some spectacular catches. Then he was even more dazzling in the postseason, when he batted .360 — including a torrid .438 in the World Series, when he was 7-for-16 in Boston’s four-game sweep of the Rockies.

But Ellsbury struggled this summer, batting under .250 in both June and July, prompting Francona to drop him in the order.

Boston’s first pick in the 2005 draft, Ellsbury is too good to stay in a season-long slump. He began to snap out of it in August, when he batted .287, then came on strong in September, when he hit .340 and returned to his customary spot atop the order.

“I said all year, even when he wasn’t hitting leadoff, we would be a better team when we got him back in that leadoff spot, and that’s what happened,” Francona said.

jdonalds@projo.com