The Upton Formerly Known As B.J. will go by a different name this season and before you ask — no, this does not legally void his contract.
Call him anything you want (as if that has stopped you before). Melvin, B.J., the Lesser Upton. It doesn’t matter because the Braves tried everything this winter short of leaving him on the Tampa Bay Rays’ doorstop, ringing the bell and running. He’s not going away. The Braves owe him another $46 million — just breathe, let it go — and those are the financial realities fans and fantasy sports players prefer not to process.
But something has been lost amid the cumulative .198 average and 324 strikeouts and two years of lampooning: The Braves need him.
OK, more specifically, they need him to be good. They need the Upton who showed power (24 homers) and speed (22 stolen bases) and, remarkably, the ability to consistently put the bat on the ball (.300) in 2007. Forget .300, they’ll take 280 … or .260 … .240?
They would throw a parade for the Upton who shredded Boston in the 2008 ALCS: .321, 4 homers, 11 RBIs, 8 runs, two stolen bases in seven games.
By any name, there’s a decent hitter down there somewhere. Atlanta seemingly got the body but not the soul when former general manager Frank Wren made the investment in a player who ultimately doomed him.
Upton isn’t out of names. He also can’t be out of answers.
The new hitting coach is Kevin Seitzer. He’s smart. He’s enthusiastic. He hasn’t been beaten down yet. You can tell he’s new.
Seitzer wants Upton to shorten his swing, start working on the middle of the field again. He credited Upton for having a “mentally strong character,” for having come through the last two seasons without his head exploding.
The two met twice over the winter to talk about approach and mindset, and Seitzer has been pleased with the progress Upton has made. “He’s been freakin’ awesome. Really, really great,” he said. “I don’t want to build expectations to where everybody has him under a microscope. That’s what’s going to happen, anyway. But this is a process to build this kid back to where he was a few years ago.”
We can debate whether that’s possible, or at least plausible. But there’s no debate what that could do for the Braves. They don’t have a lot of punch in this lineup. “We need him to be the B.J. Upton he was in Tampa Bay,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “He needs to be the B.J. Upton he was in Tampa Bay, just for his own psyche.”
Or what’s left of it.
No Brave has been booed as much as Upton. He even made Dan Uggla feel popular. But he preferred not to focus on the last two years on Monday, when he made his first appearance of spring training: “They’re over with. They’re done. I can’t change it. So my only thing is to (look) to the future.”
When Upton walked into the clubhouse three days before position players were mandated to report, he immediately drew a crowd. Media members were drawn to him like vultures to a carcass.
To Upton’s credit, he stood there, in front of his locker, below the new, “Upton Jr.” nameplate, quietly and professionally answering all questions.
He said he had been thinking of going by Melvin for some time (“My dad thought enough of me to give me his name, so why not?”). He denied this is about trying to change his fortunes (“Really, it had nothing to do with starting a new chapter.”), even if few believed that.
How many great athletes change their name for reasons other than religion (Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali) or some combination of marketing and lunacy (Ron Artest became Metta World Peace who became The Panda’s Friend).
But Upton said he’s “in a good spot, mentally.” He was asked about the Braves’ roster strip-down, which included his younger brother Justin being traded to San Diego for prospects, and said: “It’s the game. It’s the business. Sometimes teams need to go in a different direction. It just happened that my brother was the one — one of many (traded). It was fun while it lasted for two years. Obviously, I wish I had a couple of better years than I did with him.”
He said he has enjoyed working with Seitzer. When asked if he was somewhat astounded how big a drop he has taken with the Braves, he responded: “No. It happens. I’m not the first guy who’s gonna struggle and I’m not going to be the last. Unfortunately, it’s gone down that way the last two years but it happens. I can’t say I’m good with it but have I gotten over it? Yeah.”
Nothing can erase the last two seasons. But if the Melvin Emanuel Upton of 2015 can channel the B.J. Upton of 2007, he would represent one of the greatest mutations in franchise history.
Seitzer: “I told him I don’t give a flip what your numbers look like in spring. April 5 is what I’m concerned with. The day before opening day, I want him to be feeling as good and as close as possible to what I think he can be.”
Because in the end, nobody really cares about the name.
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