SAN FRANCISCO — Justin Upton had a .216 average during a 12-game homerless streak before Saturday, but the Braves left fielder could take some comfort from drawing 11 walks and posting a .400 OBP during that stretch.
“Yes, it’s more encouraging when you’re still seeing the ball good, you’re just not putting good swings on it,” he said. “That’s kind of the case with me. I’m seeing the ball good, it’s just a matter of time before I’m putting good swings on it again.”
Upton was baseball’s hottest hitter for most of April, batting .302 (26-for-86) with five doubles, 12 homers and a .779 slugging percentage in his first 23 games through April 27.
He was 8-for-37 with two extra-base hits and a .297 slugging percentage since then.
“Your timing gets off once in a while, and you’ve got to get it back,” Upton said. “That’s it. I don’t feel any different. I haven’t been as productive as I like, but that happens during a season. You’re good (at times), you’re bad, you’re somewhat good — it’s a daily grind, man. A daily thing.
“You’re always trying to work up to that, to feeling good. You lose it and you’ve got to find it again.”
Here’s how torrid were his first several weeks with the Braves: Despite not hitting a home run in the past two weeks, he still led the majors with 12 homers before Saturday.
“It’s crazy,” he said. “I’m looking to get back in that column. I don’t want it to go all year long.”
Upton had a triple in Thursday’s series opener against the Giants, and doubled to the center-field wall Friday.
“That ball he hit (Friday) is a home run in a lot of parks,” Braves hitting coach Greg Walker said. “He’s fine. He’s just been … his timing’s gotten off. He has a few things going there that he has to monitor.”
In the meantime, Upton has kept getting on base. He had seven walks in his past six games before Saturday.
“That’s one thing we’ve done well as a team — we’re at the top of the league in drawing walks,” Walker said. “We should have a bunch more if we didn’t swing at so many pitches out of the zone.
“He’s seeing the ball good, he’s just a tick late right now in getting ready to hit. I thought he cleaned it up at the end of the game (Friday) night, so I expect he’ll get it going again soon.”
