Players to Watch: Diamondbacks vs. Padres
By Kody Acevedo
Jun 16, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Padres left fielder Justin Upton (10) hits a sacrifice RBI as he breaks his bat grounding into a double play during the eighth inning against the Oakland Athletics at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Upton flat-out leads the Padres in all offense categories right now.
He’s hitting a team-high .272 with 13 home runs and 43 RBIs. He also as 15 stolen bases on the year and scored 42 runs with an OBP of .353 and an OPS of .812.
Over the three games against the Giants earlier this week, Upton collected four hits and a stolen base.
While he has cooled down quite a bit since May, it’s possible he’ll start to pick things up again as we head into the second-half of the season. He is only hitting .193 during the month of June. But in May, he hit .343 with 6 homers and 23 driven in.
He also loves hitting at Petco Park, where he owns a .323 batting average compared to his .225 average out on the road.
If the D-backs want to keep him cool, it’ll be important for the pitching staff to jump ahead in the count early because Upton is hitting .294 when he is ahead in the count.