http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/may/15/padres-melvin-upton-clean-slate-san-diego/
Upton: 'I had 2 bad years; bottom line'
Newest Padres outfielder eyeing clean slate as he embarks on rehab assignment
By
Jeff Sanders11 a.m.May 15, 2015
<figure class="article-image">
<figcaption> The Braves' B.J. Upton, right, tosses his helmet to a bat boy after striking out during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday, July 29, 2014, in Los Angeles.
— (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)</figcaption>
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The Braves' B.J. Upton, right, tosses his helmet to a bat boy after striking out during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday, July 29, 2014, in Los Angeles.
/ (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
</figure>Even before the Braves shipped Melvin Upton Jr. to San Diego, the carry-on baggage required to land closer Craig Kimbrel, he was ready for a fresh start.
A clean slate.
A reset.
Really, anything to put some distance between himself and two forgettable years in Atlanta. Maybe the change from his nickname (B.J.) to his given name (Melvin) in spring training wasn’t the driving force behind that desire, but no one would have blamed Upton if it was.
“For me, coming into this season,” Upton admitted, “I was ready to start over anyway.”
A trade to San Diego, then, provides with a natural career break.
Thirteen years ago he was the No. 2 overall pick in the country. Today, Upton is a 30-year-old outfielder rehabbing with Triple-A El Paso, the latest stop in a treacherous career path since signing a five-year, $75 million deal to leave Tampa for Atlanta before the start of the 2013 season. Along the way, he’s compiled 324 strikeouts in 1,028 plate appearances, a .198 batting average and all sorts of doubts that he can recapture the momentum he had as he walked out the Rays’ front door with a third 20-20 season.
“I don't read too much into it,” Upton said in Phoenix as he prepared for a delayed start to his season due to sesamoiditis in his left foot. “I had two bad years. Bottom line. It happens. I ain't the first. I ain't going to be the last.”
Yet the depths to which Upton sunk in Atlanta were alarming nevertheless, even with questionable plate discipline long a sticking point among the scouting community. Really, Upton’s natural athleticism stood out from the get-go during his prep days as a shortstop at Greenbrier Christian Academy in Virginia, both his bat and foot speed lapping the competition when the Rays signed him to a $4.6 million signing bonus in 2002. His brother – who coincidentally landed in San Diego three months earlier via trade – topped that total three years later as the No. 1 overall selection in the country, further proof of the natural gifts in Upton’s DNA.
“I asked his dad one time,” Rays scouting director R.J. Harrison said, “‘why’d you stop at two?’”
So swift was Upton that work ethic questions dogged him even as scouts tapped him first-round potential. When he slumped badly upon arriving in Atlanta, that talk again intensified during a tenure that ended with the Braves pairing the rest of a bad contract ($46.35 million) with Kimbrel to net prospects and the $24 million left on two Padres stinkers (Carlos Quentin and Cameron Maybin).
In San Diego, Upton’s got at least one voucher.
“He makes everything look effortless; he does everything so smooth,” said right-hander James Shields, who grew up in the Rays system with Melvin Upton. “A lot of people say he doesn't look like he's running very hard. Put a clock on him. It will show you how fast he is. He's played behind me for a ton of years. I can't tell you how many balls he's saved from being doubles or homers.”
Of course, Shields can’t tell you just what Upton has left as he begins a rehab assignment, nor can the Padres say just how the former uber-talent can fit onto a roster already employing Justin Upton, Matt Kemp and Wil Myers (provided both he and Yonder Alonso are healthy) in the outfield. Two years removed from his last 20-20 season – he hit as many as 28 homers in 2012 and stole as many as 44 bases in 2008 – Upton is as disinterested in that question as he is in revisiting just went wrong those two years in Atlanta.
Turning the page is all that matters now.
“They're history now” Upton said. “There's nothing I can do about it. Just regroup, start over and get a fresh start. Just go out and give it everything I can to be the player I know I can be.”
jeff.sanders@utsandiego.com; on Twitter: @JeffSanders_UT
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