OC Register: Angels aim to keep red-hot Justin Upton in leadoff spot

[AngelsWin.com]

ANAHEIM — Joe Maddon was recently running through the minutiae of his batting order choices for a particular day when he dropped an unexpected name.

“I did not want to move Upton. Rickey’s staying put.”

Wait, Rickey?

After Maddon had finished his lengthy answer about the order, he was asked to go back and clarify his use of the name “Rickey.”

“Henderson?” Maddon said with a chuckle. “Leading off: Justin Henderson.”

Maddon’s homage to Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history, was perhaps a bit of hyperbole, but Justin Upton’s surprising success at the top of the order is nonetheless an attention-grabber.

Upton, 33 and a veteran of 15 big-league seasons, had never spent a single game in the leadoff spot until Maddon put him there May 23 in an effort to shake the slugger out of his slump. It’s a move he said he’s made throughout his career with a power hitter, most notably with the Chicago Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo.

The idea, Maddon said, is to get the player to focus less on power and run production and more on just being a good hitter.

Except in Upton’s case, it worked too well. It worked so well that Maddon now doesn’t want to move Upton back to the middle of the order.

“He is enjoying it,” Maddon said. “It’s obvious. The other players feel it. The coaches feel it. I want to believe the fans feel it. What he’s done is maybe one of the biggest reasons why we’ve ascended like we have.”

To Maddon, it’s no coincidence that the day he moved Upton marked what is currently the low-water point for Upton and the Angels.

The Angels were 19-27 and Upton was hitting .188 with a .661 OPS on the Sunday morning when the surprising lineup card was posted with Upton’s name at the top. In his 1,778th big-league game, he was hitting leadoff for the first time.

Since then, the Angels are 17-9, having climbed back to .500.

Upton is hitting .333 with a 1.013 OPS as a leadoff hitter. (He also returned to the No. 4 spot for one game since then.)

“I feel pretty good up there,” Upton said. “I am seeing the ball better and getting better swings off.”

Upton said he has enjoyed hitting leadoff, but he has never gone so far as to say that the change in spots in the batting order is the reason that he’s hit so well.

He said he’s done the same things in preparation all of this year, as well as in his two disappointing seasons prior to this one.

“The last couple years, it just wasn’t there,” said Upton, who was battling injuries throughout 2019. “I did the same things I do in the cage, grinding and trying to be productive. It just didn’t happen. The end of last year was pretty good. The start of this year was bad. I’m seeing the ball pretty good now. It is what it is.”

It’s certainly possible that he’s just been enjoying the hot streak he was due to have no matter what, and it’s a coincidence that it started right after he moved to the top of the order.

His OPS is now .823, which is just above his career OPS of .820.

Aside from more hits falling for Upton since he’s gone to the leadoff spot, his walk rate has increased significantly. Upton walked in 9.7% of his plate appearances before moving in the lineup, and 14.5% since.

“I’m in better positions mechanically,” Upton said. “We talk a lot about controlling the zone and hitting balls in the big part of the plate. It’s been going that way. I’ve been able to lay off the bad ones and really wait on my pitch, and it’s working out for me.”

Whether the lineup switch is the cause of his improvement or it’s all a coincidence, Maddon is determined not to mess with it. He’s been asked repeatedly over the past few weeks if he plans to put Upton back in the middle of the lineup now that he’s hitting.

Maddon concedes that “conventionally” that makes sense, particularly since former leadoff hitter David Fletcher is also now doing better. But then Maddon describes a lineup with a sizzling Upton in front of Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon, Jared Walsh and Max Stassi, and he’s content to keep him at the top.

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“If you wanted to speak in theoretical terms before the season begins, you would think that (Upton is best in the middle),” Maddon said. “But in reality, it’s turned out this way seems to be our best method right now. I’m in no hurry to get J-Up out of the leadoff spot.”

UP NEXT

Angels (LHP Andrew Heaney, 4-4, 4.45 ERA) vs. Giants (RHP Anthony DeSclafani, 7-2, 3.01), 6:38 p.m. Tuesday, Bally Sports West, 830 AM

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[Dtwncbad]

Wow I guess it’s magic. Just think how great the Angels could have been over the last 4-5 years if Pujols batted leadoff.

[Jason]

It’s working so keep him their until he starts to suck again 

[failos]

Maddon is a genius