The Durham Bulls are 60-79 this year, but fans are unlikely to forget 2005. Two decades from now, Durhamites might look back and say, "That was the year Upton and Young both played for the Bulls."
B.J. Upton and Delmon Young are two of the best young talents in all of baseball, and they both play for Durham, the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays organization. Upton, who just turned 21, is a 6-foot-3, 180-pound shortstop with all-around offensive talent, both at the plate and on the basepaths. Young, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound outfielder, is considered by many to be the No. 1 prospect in all of baseball at the age of 19, mostly because of his raw power to all fields.
Upton was the No. 2 pick in the 2002 draft. Young was the No. 1 pick in the 2003 draft. Upton received a 4.6 million-dollar signing bonus. Young is guaranteed 5.8 million dollars.
Think there is pressure on these guys to become stars?
"None," Young said without hesitation.
"Not much," Upton said. "I can't live up to what other people want me to do, I can only go out there and do what I can do best. I just try to block that out and go out there and play my game.
The similarities go further between these two budding stars. Both have brothers who were also drafted in the top-five picks. Upton's younger brother, Justin, was taken with the No. 1 overall pick by Arizona this past June, leapfrogging the Uptons over the Youngs as the most highly-drafted siblings in baseball history.
Upton, despite spending all of 2005 at Triple-A Durham, is technically not considered a prospect because he qualified as a rookie while playing with the Devil Rays from June through September 2004. At the end of the 2004 season, Upton's offensive potential was obvious-in a quarter of a season at the ripe age of 20, Upton hit .258 with four home runs and four stolen bases. The reason Upton has played with the Bulls all this season, and still has yet to receive a call-up as entering September, is his inability to field his position.
The shortstop's defensive shortcomings are well-documented. Upton has made 51 errors in 135 games this year, which leads all of professional baseball. There is no pattern to his errors-one time he throws it high, the next play the ball goes through his legs-and changing his position is a frequent topic of conversation, especially with the soft-handed Julio Lugo already entrenched as Tampa Bay's shortstop. Fifty-one seems like an astronomical number of mistakes, but the player Upton says he is most often compared to, Derek Jeter, was notorious for his high error totals in the minor leagues, and today Jeter is a six-time all-star.
"The numbers might not show it, but I think overall I've gotten better," Upton said. "It's just a matter of learning, and people forget it's only my third full season. I just turned 21. It's not going to come overnight, it's going to come with time."
Young had a lot of hype surrounding his selection as the first overall draft pick, and his meteoric rise through the minor leagues suggests he has met expectations thus far. The teenager spent the first three months of the season knocking the cover off the ball in Double-A Montgomery (Ala.), hitting .336 with 20 home runs and 25 stolen bases before receiving a July promotion to Durham. With the Bulls, Young has hit a respectable .272 with five home runs and seven steals in 47 games.
Young is not expected to be called up to the majors until next season, when he will be the youngest member of a crowded outfield. The Devil Rays already have three outfielders who have extended success at the major-league level-Aubrey Huff, Rocco Baldelli and Carl Crawford-and two more young outfielders with loads of potential in Joey Gathright and Jonny Gomes.
"We've got a lot of young guys in our organization," Upton said. "I think if you give us a couple of years we're going to be a good team. We just have to put it all together."
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