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In the month of September, a whopping 307 different major league ballplayers have swatted a home run. But not a single one of them has done it more than Justin Upton.
The streaky Tigers left fielder has smacked 11 balls over the fence in September, best in the bigs. Brian Dozier of the Twins and Hanley Ramirez of the Red Sox have each clubbed 10.
It’s one of the more shocking developments during this Detroit Tigers season. For the better part of five months, Upton was a non-factor in the lineup. His batting average hovered right round .230, home runs (13) were few and far between, and he was striking out at an alarmingly high rate.
Justin Upton
Then we featured a piece on Deadline Detroit about Upton’s struggles and, wouldn’t you know it, the guy righted the ship almost immediately. From that column:
The unique thing about baseball is the sheer longevity of the season itself. A guy like Upton can feel like he is struggling, fighting himself at the plate for months and months; yet still have plenty of time to finish strong and wash the bad memories away.
The Tigers have 44 games left. Over a quarter of the season still remains.
If Upton can somehow figure out a way to put bat to ball more often, and maybe even send that ball flying high and far every couple of nights, his debut Tigers campaign could be rescued. With the team still in the thick of the “Fight for Mediocrity,” also known as the Race for the 2nd Wild Card, these are the games and at-bats fans will remember most.
Find a little power surge, get that home run total north of 20, and suddenly the Tigers fan base is no longer watching #8 in left field while uttering things like, “Do you think the Tigers kept their receipt on this Upton signing? Are there any returns in baseball? Wait, is this guy actually 1998 Geronimo Berroa and nobody ever bothered to tell us???”
Taking the League By Storm
Upton didn’t just flip the script in a minor way. He figured out whatever it was that had been ailing him at the plate and became the most feared slugger in all of baseball.
When you go to check a Tigers score later in the night and they have five or six runs on the board, you can almost guarantee that a couple of them came from a Justin Upton home run. It’s almost surprising when you don’t see his name listed as such in the box score.
The Tigers haven’t exactly capitalized on Upton’s resurrection in terms of wins and losses. They’ve been solid but unspectacular in this season-deciding month of September, winning 12 and losing 11. But just think about what that record might be if not for the heroics of “J-Up.” (Which also happens to be the least creative nickname in Detroit sports right now, followed closely by “Miggy,” “KCP,” and “V-Mart.” Let’s get some original sports nicknames back to the city!)
After the feeble beginning to his Tigers career, it is remarkable that Upton could possibly set a career high in long balls this year. His total sits at 29 with five games to play, just two behind the 31 he collected for the Diamondbacks in 2011.
Sure, that number is also accompanied by a career high in strikeouts and what will likely be a career low in walks; but as long as the balls keep flying out of the park at a league-leading rate and the Bengals keep inching closer to a playoff berth, all could very well be forgiven in Tiger Town.
