... along with his popup rate, suggesting that he was teeing off and juuuust missing some of them. In 2009, when he was only 22, his fly ball rate wasn't up yet, so hard to say -- grounder rate goes up when you pull the ball, so maybe he was going after the ball, but topping some to short and popping some up ... both are conceivably reflections of Upton being aggressive, but who knows...
Yeh, I've always used positive FB + CH pairings as indicators that a hitter was reading the pitch well, staying back on cambios but being quick to the heaters also. In his off years, the "slider-speed bat" is catching pitches in between, maybe.
If any of that be true, it would suggest that Upton has still not digested enough pitches to hit his prime yet.
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