B. J. Upton

Infobox MLB player
name = B. J. Upton

---

width = 300
position = Center fielder
team = Tampa Bay Rays
number = 2
bats = Right
throws = Right
birthdate = birth date and age|1984|8|21
debutdate = August 2
debutyear = 2004
debutteam = Tampa Bay Devil Rays
statyear = July 23, 2008
stat1label = Batting average
stat1value = .277
stat2label = Home runs
stat2value = 35
stat3label = Runs batted in
stat3value = 148
stat4label = On base percentage
stat4value = .365
stat5label = Stolen bases
stat5value = 67
teams =
* Tampa Bay Devil Rays/Rays (by|2004), (by|2006–present)

Melvin Emanuel "B. J." Upton (born August 21 1984 in Norfolk, Virginia) is a Major League Baseball center fielder for the Tampa Bay Rays. His nickname, B.J., is short for "Bossman Junior"—his father's nickname was "Bossman." Upton was drafted second overall in the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft by Tampa Bay out of Greenbrier Christian Academy in Chesapeake, Virginia. Widely considered a very polished prospect able to hit for both power and average, poor defensive play at shortstop kept him in the minor leagues until 2007. He is also a brother to Justin Upton from the Arizona Diamondbacks.

As a member of the 2001 Team USA Junior National team, Upton batted .462 (12-for-26) in nine games. The team went 9-2 and won the Silver Medal in Cuba that year. In 2002, Upton was named a first-team All-American by "Baseball America", batting .641 (50-for-78) with 11 doubles, 4 triples, 11 home runs and 32 RBI during his senior year at Greenbrier.

In 2003, Upton committed 56 errors, leading the minor leagues. He was ranked as the #21 prospect in baseball that year by "Baseball America", and as the #2 prospect a year later in 2004. [cite web | title = "All-Time Top 100 Prospects" | publisher = "Baseball America" | date = 2007-02-27 | url = http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/features/26983.html] He made his major league debut on August 2, 2004, becoming the youngest Devil Ray ever and the youngest player in the major leagues in 2004. In that game against the Boston Red Sox, he went 1-3 with a walk, with his hit being a seventh-inning single off Tim Wakefield. His younger brother, Justin, was taken with the top overall choice of the 2005 Major League Baseball Draft, making them the highest-drafted siblings of all time. [cite web | title = "Upton brothers look to reverse trend" | publisher = ESPN.com | date = 2007-04-12 | url = http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=jones/070412] Upton was the starting shortstop in both the 2004 and 2005 All-Star Futures Games.

In 2007, Upton emerged from spring training as the Rays' starting second baseman. On June 8, Upton was forced to leave a game against the Florida Marlins early due to a strained left quadricep. [cite web | title = "Upton, Navarro leave with injuries" | publisher = MLB.com | date = 2007-06-09 | url = http://tampabay.devilrays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070608&content_id=2014631&vkey=news_tb&fext=.jsp&c_id=tb] The injury forced him out of action until July 13. Before the injury, he was batting .320/.396/.545 with 9 home runs. Although he played mostly second base until the injury, Upton has been the team's starting center fielder since returning.

In 2007, he had 24 home runs, and was 22-8 in stolen base attempts. He was one of only 6 batters in the AL to have at least 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases, along with Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Ian Kinsler, Grady Sizemore, and Curtis Granderson.

Criticism

During the 2008 season, Upton was twice disciplined by Rays manager Joe Maddon for lack of hustle. On August 6, Upton was held out of the lineup for failing to run out a ground ball the night before. [cite web | title = "Upton out of lineup for lack of hustle" | publisher = MLB.com | date = 2008-08-06 | url = http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080806&content_id=3262918&vkey=news_tb&fext=.jsp&c_id=tb] On August 15, Upton was benched in the sixth inning for not running out a double play ball. He was replaced by Justin Ruggiano. A few days later, Upton hit a ball to left field that bounced off the wall. From the crack of the bat, Upton reacted to it as a home run, dropping the bat and casually jogging down the first base line. He then tried to stretch it into a double and was thrown out by the left fielder. He was not benched for this incident, however. Joe Maddon was interviewed and called it "just a mental mistake". [cite web | title = "Upton benched for lack of hustle" | publisher = MLB.com | date = 2008-08-16 | url = http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080816&content_id=3317356&vkey=news_tb&fext=.jsp&c_id=tb]

References

External links

*Baseballstats |mlb=425834 |espn= |br=u/uptonbj01 |fangraphs= |cube=u/b.j.-upton
* [http://www.baseballdigestdaily.com/bullpen/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=26 B.J. Upton interview at Baseball Digest Daily]
* [http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2955 B.J. Upton interview with Baseball Prospectus]
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/Youngest_leagues.shtml Year-by-Year League Leaders for Youngest Player: Baseball-Reference.com]

succession box
title = Youngest Player in the
American League
years = 2004
before = Chad Gaudin
2003
after = Félix Hernández
2005