It took years for B.J. Upton to get to this bad place with his hitting mechanics, so he knows things aren’t going to turn around in one day. But two hits Friday against the Mets, including an opposite-field double to the right-field warning track, was encouraging for the Braves center fielder.
He was 4-for-43 with 18 strikeouts in his previous 12 games, which had dropped his average to a league-worst .134. Last week, Upton went to hitting coach Greg Walker and told him he wanted to fix his swing and get back to what he was years ago, before he morphed into a pull-happy power hitter.
“That (Friday) is a start in the right direction,” Upton said Sunday morning. “That used to be what I did best. And over the last couple of years I’ve become more pull, and it’s not me. I’m just trying to get back to hitting balls to all fields.”
The slender speedster isn’t concerned so much with raising his walks total or cutting down strikeouts – he has 36 in 104 at-bats – but just wants to get back to hitting the ball to all fields, and letting the rest take care of itself.
“We felt like the main problem all year long is that he’s been late on heaters (fastballs),” Walker said. “Whether it was late getting the (front) foot down, or late recognizing them, whatever.”
There are a lot of moving parts involved in the swing of Upton, the 28-year-old older brother of Braves left fielder Justin Upton. Those parts haven’t been in synch, and he’s struggled while little brother was hitting 12 homers in April.
The changes in his hitting approach had been gradual, and not something that B.J. felt compelled to address the past few seasons because he was hitting for more power as his average eroded.
“I couldn’t even tell you” when it happened, he said. “It just kind of happened, and now I’m just trying to get back to what got me here.”
Upton, who had 51 homers and 159 RBIs over the past two seasons with the Rays, has three homers and five RBIs in his first 28 games for the Braves. With the power (and average) down, he decided it was time to fix the overall approach.
“He’ll tell you that since ’08 he hasn’t felt like he was a good hitter,” Walker said. “He was more of a slugger. And he wants to be a good hitter again. He wants to use all fields. When he was young, he was a really good hitter.”
Heyward progressing: Jason Heyward has progressed in his recovery from an April 22 appendectomy, and the right fielder could begin a minor-league rehab assignment by the end of this week.
After resting 10 days, he took his first “dry swings” with a bat on Friday to see how he felt. That went so well, he also hit balls off a tee that day and did some light throwing. He increased those activities Saturday, hitting soft-tossed balls and throwing “aggressively.”
“Now we’re getting to running, and more throwing and more hitting,” Heyward said Sunday. “Really encouraging. Going with the team on the road trip. Hitting on the field as soon as possible.”
He’ll accompany the Braves on a three-city trip that starts Monday in Cincinnati and moves on to San Francisco, but he might not be on the final leg in Arizona. He could begin a rehab assignment by then.
“He’ll go to Cincinnati with us and take some live batting practice and start doing some more stuff,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “I don’t know if it’ll be three days in Cincinnati and then a couple of more days in San Fran, and then we’ll send him out (to a minor-league team) to get some at-bats.”
Gonzalez said there was no timetable for when and where the rehab assignment would start, or how long it would last.
McCann set to come off DL: Brian McCann went 0-for-1 with a walk in his final rehab game for Triple-A Gwinnett on Sunday, and the perennial All-Star catcher was set to join the Braves for their charter flight to Cincinnati and be activated for Monday's game. Infielder Tyler Pastornicky was optioned to Gwinnett to open a roster spot.
In the final stages of his recovery from October shoulder surgery, McCann went 8-for-23 with a double, four home runs and nine RBIs in seven rehab games for Gwinnett and Class-A Rome. The Braves will carry three catchers , with McCann joining Evan Gattis and Gerald Laird. Gattis can also play left field and first base and provide big pinch-hit power.
Teheran skipped: The Braves are staying with their pitching plans and skipping a rotation turn for rookie Julio Teheran, who was scheduled to start Saturday before the game was rained out. He'll be available out of the bullpen at least through Monday's game and make his next start Thursday at San Francisco.
CMart update: Reliever Cristhian Martinez, who's spent four weeks on the DL with a strained shoulder, will begin throwing batting practice and bullpen sessions this week at Braves spring-training headquarters in Florida, Gonzalez said.
