Sept. 9, 2004, Tampa Bay shortstop B.J. Upton settled into the righthanded batter’s box at Yankee Stadium. With one out in the top of the first and young lefthander Brad Halsey on the mound, Upton sent a drive into the leftfield seats to give the Devil Rays a 1-0 lead.
Upton had just turned 20 years old two and a half weeks earlier.
When was the last time a player younger than Upton hit a home run in the House that Ruth Built? Back in 1989, when Ken Griffey Jr. decked one over the wall as a 19-year-old.
Upton’s blast was one of four home runs he would hit in his 45 games with the Devil Rays. Although the Yankee Stadium homer put the Chesapeake, Va., native in some pretty select company, it was apparent Upton’s game still needed improvement. He was optioned to Durham in the off-season.
“I think they just put him down here to get a little more seasoning,” Durham hitting coach Richie Hebner said. “He has a chance to be a stud and play a lot of years in the big leagues. There’s no reason he shouldn’t.”
Upton will need to work on his fielding—he has made 100 errors over the past two seasons—and improve his discipline at the plate. He has walked 129 times and struck out 205 times in his professional career.
This will be Upton’s third season in the minors, where he has hit for a .304 average. Hebner said the shortstop has all the skills to return to the majors.
“He’s got power to all fields,” Hebner said. “When he’s swinging well the ball just jumps off his bat.”
Upton agrees that playing every day will be the only way for his game to improve and has tapped the Bulls’ veterans for daily advice.
“I’m trying to learn from them,” Upton said. “You have guys here who have been in the game for 10 to 12 years. I’m still young—I’m 20 and I’ve only been playing for three years.
“You learn about the little things. Something will happen in a game and I’ll go to one of them and ask ‘What should I have done differently there?’”
As is the case with all minor leaguers, Upton could be called back up to the majors at any time.
“I learned to be ready to play every day and be ready to get your work in,” he said. “You never know what’s going to happen. Skip [manager Bill Evers] said that there’s a lot of transactions that happen here—I think they said 144 last year. You just have to be ready to play, and play hard.”
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