I've been an Upton pessimist but...

[Second Base]

I must admit, this is the best his swing has looked in a long time. Like everyone else here, I don't care about ST stats (see Trout and Rendon). For me, it's all about how they look in their motions.

Upton's swing is compact, he's seeing the ball well, barreling baseballs, using the middle of the field and seems to be running better than he has in a couple years. 

I thought he was an overpaid, bad defender whose swing has slowed down too far, and he was too streaky to rely on. And some of that is probably still true. 

But regardless of Spring results, he looks great. Maybe he'll hold off replacement by Adell or Marsh for another year.

 

Edited March 22, 2021 by Second Base

[TroutBaseball]

Would you say that he's "in the best shape of his life?"

[Second Base]

35 minutes ago, TroutBaseball said:

Would you say that he's "in the best shape of his life?"

I'm not sure about BSOHL. I know that he looks better than he has since 2017/2018. I have hope he can successfully contribute toward the club the last two years of his contract.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Unfortunately, like usual, we get the past his prime version.

But man, Upton at his peak was a badass. He may never have turned into the guy they expected, but still super solid.

If we get just the downslope from him this year, he should be fun to watch

[ukyah]

i'm not nearly as worried about upton as essentially everyone on this board is apparently.

i've never really seen him as what was killing the angels, tbh. most of the time, i'd say it's been SP and pujols. wrapped into the pujols element is the fact that none of the other 1b ever could produce enough to push him to the bench, not that the angels were going to bench pujols even if they had produced.

[Erstad Grit]

If he hits .250 and 25 HR that would be an incredible improvement from last year. 

[Pancake Bear]

I think Upton will be fine this year. Not great. Not terrible. Above league average offensively; not so great defense. Adequate.

[Don]

Dude is just streaky. It's who he is. He's gonna have two week stretches where he slashes 160/200/260 and he's gonna have two week stretches that are 320/400/600. If he's healthy and plays 140+ games he'll probably put up typical Justin Upton numbers, which is perfectly fine if he's hitting 5/6 with Walsh.

[Stradling]

Upton will be our fourth best hitter this year.  Behind Trout, Rendon and Ohtani.  He will be better than Fletcher, Albert, Walsh, Iglesias and Fowler. 

[Warfarin]

11 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Upton will be our fourth best hitter this year.  Behind Trout, Rendon and Ohtani.  He will be better than Fletcher, Albert, Walsh, Iglesias and Fowler. 

We'll see.  I think Fletcher is a more skillful hitter and thus will prove to be better overall.  But if Upton mashes and has an OPS of 900+, I will happily be wrong lol.

[Don]

38 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Upton will be our fourth best hitter this year.  Behind Trout, Rendon and Ohtani.  He will be better than Fletcher, Albert, Walsh, Iglesias and Fowler. 

I think Walsh has a good shot of being better than Upton, and I think Iglesias will hit for a pretty decent average, though comparing him and Upton is tough as they have entirely different skill sets.

[Stradling]

Fletcher will have the highest OBP of the second tier guys, Upton will have the highest OPS of the those guys, which is why I said he’d be the best offensive player of the secondary group. 

[oldguy]

23 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Fletcher will have the highest OBP of the second tier guys, Upton will have the highest OPS of the those guys, which is why I said he’d be the best offensive player of the secondary group. 

You might call Fletcher "second tier", but I'm waiting for his bobblehead to come out so I can replace Baby Jesus in my Nativity Set.

[Angel Oracle]

Upton hit really well in September, and it seemingly carried over.  And the defense seems better than the past 2-3 years.

It’s a nice lineup, with surprising starting pitching so far this ST.

With Iglesias and Mayers’ cutter, the 8th and 9th innings should be fine.

Now, can the 3rd through 8th guys in the bullpen rise up just often enough?

Edited March 23, 2021 by Angel Oracle

[Second Base]

3 hours ago, Erstad Grit said:

If he hits .250 and 25 HR that would be an incredible improvement from last year. 

That's what I would consider a successful season from Upton. .250 and 25 HR's with an OPS over .800.

[ukyah]

4 hours ago, Stradling said:

Upton will be our fourth best hitter this year.  Behind Trout, Rendon and Ohtani.  He will be better than Fletcher, Albert, Walsh, Iglesias and Fowler. 

interesting, my completely unscientific thoughts are that trout and rendon are obvious. ohtani is difficult to compare because of limited plate appearances. fletcher i disagree with, but i understand people will value their hitting stats differently. Walsh and iglesias are the swing guys. if they hit well, then the angels have a potent lineup. i think they both outproduce upton. upton will be better than fowler. pujols? look at jackie the joke man over here, this guy.

[Docwaukee]

Upton moving well in the outfield is what I'm most happy about.  Something close to his 2018 at the plate would be awesome.  He'll be streaky but his bat speed looks really good right now.  

[Taylor]

This thread influenced me to draft Upton as my 5th outfielder on my fantasy team. If he sucks, I'm blaming all of you.

[Angel Oracle]

2 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

Upton moving well in the outfield is what I'm most happy about.  Something close to his 2018 at the plate would be awesome.  He'll be streaky but his bat speed looks really good right now.  

Heck, he’s looking like September 2017 Upton just after being acquired.

[Docwaukee]

1 minute ago, Angel Oracle said:

Heck, he’s looking like September 2017 Upton just after being acquired.

Slow it down dude.  Control the heart rate.  

[Second Base]

@Chuckster70

26 minutes ago, TaylorBot said:

This thread influenced me to draft Upton as my 5th outfielder on my fantasy team. If he sucks, I'm blaming all of you.

@Chuckster70 grabbed him in our fantasy league based specifically off this thread. You're welcome. It's actually a plot I created to tank his team.

[Angel Oracle]

13 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

Slow it down dude.  Control the heart rate.  

He did hit like September 2017 Upton this past September, and it’s carried over to ST (knock on wood).

[Docwaukee]

31 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

He did hit like September 2017 Upton this past September, and it’s carried over to ST (knock on wood).

He's streaky as hell.  .250 and 25 bombs where he carries the offense for a few weeks and isn't a nightmare on defense.  I'll take that.  

[Angels 1961]

57 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

He did hit like September 2017 Upton this past September, and it’s carried over to ST (knock on wood).

Not Brandon I hope

[Angels 1961]

He's healthy, big year from J UP