By Zack Cimini
notjustagame23@gmail.com
Thus far one of the biggest fantasy disappointments two months in has to be Justin Upton. Here is a guy that many believed to be a top first round fantasy talent. Yet he has struggled to get on base and his batting averaged has not reached higher than .269. What gives? Part of it could be blamed on the Diamondbacks lineup that has been inconsistent for run production which obviously means limited hits.
Upton’s supposed to be the catalyst to this team though and is one of the main reasons they’re slumping in last place. The season is young and maybe Upton’s June will get him going before the All Star break. He has a long ways to go and needs to work on his patience at the plate. Mark Reynolds seems to be rubbing off on him in the wrong way. Upton already has twenty four games with multi strikeouts.
There’s no question Upton can get it turned on. Maybe his two home runs in the last four Diamondbacks games will get him going. Blasting a few usually does the trick. If not we question if Upton will dig out of it this year. A young player on a struggling team can tend to lose grips and focus pretty quick. We already know Upton takes each bat appearance to heart, as witnessed to his self talk with his baseball bat last year. Currently you’d have to label him as a big first round disappointment in fantasy drafts. His skill set though makes him very hard to give up on. Ride him out and hope he will battle out of his slumping start. It only takes a series or two tear to get a guy like Upton revived and rolling.