It has been a nice couple of weeks for Justin Upton. After placing fourth in the NL MVP voting a few weeks back, ESPN beat writer Keith Law named the Diamondbacks outfielder as baseball’s top player under the age of 25 in an insider article that was posted on Thursday.
Here is a brief portion of what Law said about Upton.
Upton was an MVP candidate for most of the season until Matt Kemp pulled away in September (and the voters went all retro by deciding the MVP had to be on a playoff team, d’oh). He still has a significant amount of upside left as he continues to get stronger and to refine his approach at the plate. His walk rate slipped in 2011, but he dramatically increased his contact rate, and traded some ground balls (and double plays) for fly balls (and doubles and homers). He’s a five-tool player who would probably play center on some clubs, with several 30-homer seasons ahead of him; a .310/.400/.570 peak isn’t out of the question.
This is a pretty ni...
Original Story:
