Upton Takes Off The Gloves After Fight For Steady Job

ST. PETERSBURG - Last spring training, his Rays teammates, many of whom remained thoroughly awed by his talent, began laughing whenever B.J. Upton reached into his locker for his gloves, plural.

"Third base glove, second, shortstop, center field," Upton said. "I had everything but the catcher's mitt."

"It wasn't easy for him," Rays left fielder Carl Crawford said. "We ragged him so hard. I can't say the exact words, but we called him Super Brother.

"I've never seen a guy with so much talent have to do as much stuff like B.J. Early practice, late, second base, short, third, outfield, it was crazy, man. This dude is going to be a superstar and he's going to remember the stuff you're doing to him. I'm saying that in my head."

The Rays talk big now, but last spring they didn't know where Upton would field, or bat, or if he truly was the prize who went No. 2 in the 2002 draft. He had gone from Can't Miss to Could Miss. A year later, Upton thinks he knows what people say in their heads.

"I can play," he said.

'Just Scratched The Surface'

There was satisfaction in the smile that went with those words. Maybe Upton knew it all along, and maybe the Rays did, but there's a difference between knowing and seeing. That's what 2007 was about.

He hit .300 last season, with 24 home runs and 82 RBIs despite missing six weeks of the season. After settling in center field, he made it his home.

Upton is 23. He had four gloves. Now he has one future.

Think the Rays trade Delmon Young if he didn't?

"He's the most talented guy here," Crawford said. "I don't think anyone is going to sit around and deny it."

"We believe he has just scratched the surface," Rays baseball executive vice president Andrew Friedman said.

"It's definitely night and day from last spring," Upton said. "Back then, I wondered where I was going, but I fought through it."

He hit .246 in 50 games with the Rays in 2006. He made 46 errors between shortstop and third base between Durham and Tampa Bay. He just wasn't very good.

"A lot of people started to doubt what I could do," Upton said. "That kind of pushed me. I worked. I worked my butt off."

He went into the hitting cage last offseason, again and again, and the ball began whistling off his bat. It kept whistling, too.

"The sound is different," Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

"He's just so strong in the wrists," Crawford said. "He's got a nice strong jerk. He can let the ball get so deep, then he swings and whoom."

Repeating: Whoom.

Room To Grow

Maddon says he was trying to help when he handed Upton all those gloves last camp.

"The biggest thing was to de-emphasize the defense at shortstop. We felt in order to get back to his offense, let's de-emphasize defense. We made it less complicated. It was a strange way to go about it, but it worked."

There is room to grow, for sure. Upton is still learning center field. And though he walked his fair share, he struck out 154 times despite missing those six weeks. That works out to about 180 strikeouts for a season, Rob Deer numbers, a .300 killer.

"I'm not too worried about the strikeouts," Upton said. "I think that'll take care of itself over time. It's about just trying to do better than last year, and staying healthy."

He has ditched most doubters, and gloves.

"It fueled me, no doubt," Upton said. "That's in the past."

He can play.