LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Canopies dubbed the “Heyward tents” were installed in 2011 at Champion Stadium to protect expensive cars from flying projectiles in the Braves executive parking lot beyond right field, after Jason Heyward broke windows and side mirrors with a barrage of tape-measure homers at spring training a year earlier.
B.J. Upton wasn’t around here back then; he played for Tampa Bay at the time. But it only took one batting-practice session Tuesday for the new Braves center fielder to be convinced of Heyward’s prodigious power. Heyward scorched a home-run ball that had its flight path neither slowed nor shifted by a stiff breeze blowing across the field.
“I haven’t seen anything like that,” Upton said. “I played here (at Champion Stadium) in Double-A and the wind blows straight in. For him to cut the wind like that with the wind blowing to left, that is tough to do. That got me pretty excited for the season.”
At 6 feet 5 and 235 chiseled pounds, the thin-waisted Heyward has one of the most impressive physiques in baseball, even more “shredded” than he was a year ago. The Gold Glove-winning right fielder reported early to spring training -- a full week before position players are due Thursday -- and was joined this week by his new outfield mates, the brothers Upton. B.J. is 6-3 and 185 pounds, and younger brother Justin is a muscular 6-2, 210.
As they stood talking beside the batting cage Tuesday, Heyward, 23, all but dwarfed the Uptons. When Heyward told B.J. to call him off anytime he wanted to on a ball to the right-center gap, Upton assured him there would be no confusion, that he’d make sure to take all measures to avoid colliding with the McDonough native.
“We’re going to have a really, really athletic outfield, there’s no question about it,” Braves pitcher Tim Hudson said. “They’re going to be able to go get ‘em. It’s going to be fun to watch. Hopefully for me, they won’t be too busy, being a sinkerballer. But it’s nice to know that you have those guys out there.”
A day after Justin Upton arrived in camp, B.J. showed up Tuesday and they had their first workout on the same team in a decade, since they played together on a travel team when Justin was a high school freshman and B.J. was a senior.
“It’s pretty cool, man,” B.J. Upton said. “We’ve got about eight months of it (coming up), so it’s something I’ll get used to.”
The additions of the Uptons, who are likely to bat third (Justin) and fifth (B.J.), gives the Braves a lineup that strikes out a lot but can hurt opponents in multiple ways.
"We can change games fast with power and speed," Justin Upton said. "We’ll see. It’ll be fun to sit back and watch it.”
Hitting coach Greg Walker said of the revamped lineup: “It’s very exciting. The work’s still got to be one and all that -- the game’s played on the field not on paper -- but right now, going into spring training it’s very exciting.”
