Upton adjusting to new Toronto: ‘It’s feeling better and better every day’

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TORONTO — Melvin Upton Jr. bops his head to the music blaring in the Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse, seemingly at ease. He shares a quick laugh with Devon Travis moments later, the two trading what looks to be an already familiar handshake.

Dealt to Toronto from San Diego late last month, Upton is finding his place on a new team, his fourth in the big leagues. A recent seven-game road trip through Houston and Kansas City helped him get to know his teammates and routines, he said. 

Being traded mid-season is all new to the 31-year-old, who spent almost in decade playing for the Tampa Bay Rays before lining up with the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres more recently. 

“I think as professionals we know that at any given time this could happen,” Upton said of a trade, “(but) it doesn’t make it any easier.”

“(I’m) just kind of feeling the place out,” he added. “Trying to pick up on what the guys do, how the team does things and how you can add your routine without deviating from what the team does.”

Upton will play a prominent role for the American League East-chasing Jays, especially over the next couple weeks with everyday outfielders Kevin Pillar and Jose Bautista both injured. 

Matters on the field have been challenging so far. Upton has just six hits over his first 41 at-bats as a Jay (.146 average), not one of those for extra bases. He’s walked twice, piled up 16 strikeouts and scored only one run.

“He’s struggling,” Jays manager John Gibbons said earlier this week, while lauding Upton’s ability in the field. “But you know it’s not uncommon, a new guy in a new place, it does take a while to get things going. Seen that before.”

Upton, who used to be known by his nickname B.J., hit 16 home runs, stole 20 bases, and batted .245 for the Padres prior to the trade, reigniting a career that nosedived in Atlanta following a fine tenure in Tampa. 

Shifting back to the American League has required some adjustment. It’s a new set of pitchers, for one, while the game itself is played differently with less running, noted Upton, a reputed base-stealer. 

Upton swiped three bags in a 7-0 win over the Rays on Wednesday night and offered some real glimmers of light in the batter’s box. He capped a seven-pitch at-bat with a walk in the first and then ripped a single to right in the fifth, stealing third base for the second time of the game later in the inning.

“After being here for about a week I’m starting to feel pretty good at the plate,” said Upton, a softspoken Virginia native. “It’s feeling better and better every day.”

As Gibbons suggested, it’s hardly uncommon for a player to struggle in his early days with a new team. Troy Tulowitzki checks that box.

Tulowitzki spent his entire career in Colorado before he was dealt unexpectedly to the Jays around this time last year. His lengthy stint in one place made his situation different from Upton, he said.

Still, his transition to Toronto — at least on the field — was rocky, illustrative of the difficulties that come with joining a new team. Tulowitzki, a perennial .300 hitter in Colorado, didn’t hit much at all after joining the Jays. He looked out of place and uncertain at the plate and hinted at a tough transition, one he’s since overcome.

“I just try to focus on how I feel now and that’s obviously very good with the team,” said Tulowitzki, who had a season-high five RBIs on Wednesday night. “I don’t want to go back and think about that or anything.”

“It’s one of those things you can’t force,” Tulowitzki adds of fitting in with a new team. “It’s just relationships. You have to put in time to build those relationships.”

Upton, if the interaction with Travis is any indication, appears to be taking steps that way and on the field, too.

“I think it was a good game for him,” Gibbons said of Upton’s latest showing. “That’s got to lighten him up a little bit because he’s a very talented player. He fits in, guys like him, he seems like he’s enjoying it.”

Jonas Siegel, The Canadian Press

©2016 The Canadian Press