Post by unnameddbacksfan on Jun 9, 2008 1:47:46 GMT -5
Nick Piecoro
Covering the Diamondbacks
Struggling Upton out of the lineup
His average continuing to plummet, Justin Upton isn’t in the lineup today against the Pirates, as Alex Romero go the nod in right field.
The length of Upton's slide is a little hard to believe. You can go all the way back to May 9. He started that day hitting .344. Today, he’s down to .257.
When he was struggling a couple of weeks ago, it at least seemed as if he was having solid at-bats, like he was getting himself into hitters’ counts but just not squaring balls up. He was drawing his walks, keeping his on-base percentage in the .370 range.
Lately, it hasn’t felt that way. It seems like he’s getting behind 0-2 almost every time. He’s not drawing walks. He’s not hitting many balls hard, popping it up too often.
Yet through all this, what impresses me about him is the way he conducts himself in the clubhouse, the way he interacts with people. After games, he doesn’t appear pleased, as you’d expect. But the next day, instead of carrying those frustrations with him, he has already put it behind him.
There aren’t many 20-year-olds to compare his mind-set to, but it seems to me like this shows unusual maturity for someone his age. There are plenty of guys much older than him who don't handle it so well.
We all know he’ll snap out of it. He’s too good, too strong mentally, not to come around. It’s a matter of when.
Covering the Diamondbacks
Struggling Upton out of the lineup
His average continuing to plummet, Justin Upton isn’t in the lineup today against the Pirates, as Alex Romero go the nod in right field.
The length of Upton's slide is a little hard to believe. You can go all the way back to May 9. He started that day hitting .344. Today, he’s down to .257.
When he was struggling a couple of weeks ago, it at least seemed as if he was having solid at-bats, like he was getting himself into hitters’ counts but just not squaring balls up. He was drawing his walks, keeping his on-base percentage in the .370 range.
Lately, it hasn’t felt that way. It seems like he’s getting behind 0-2 almost every time. He’s not drawing walks. He’s not hitting many balls hard, popping it up too often.
Yet through all this, what impresses me about him is the way he conducts himself in the clubhouse, the way he interacts with people. After games, he doesn’t appear pleased, as you’d expect. But the next day, instead of carrying those frustrations with him, he has already put it behind him.
There aren’t many 20-year-olds to compare his mind-set to, but it seems to me like this shows unusual maturity for someone his age. There are plenty of guys much older than him who don't handle it so well.
We all know he’ll snap out of it. He’s too good, too strong mentally, not to come around. It’s a matter of when.
