Justin Upton picks up where he ended 2020 season

Although only 6 ¹⁄₂ innings were played on Monday, it was a high-scoring affair between the Angels and Brewers. Both teams combined for 19 runs and 23 hits, as Milwaukee took home the 10-9 victory.

Justin Upton had himself quite the afternoon, as he hit two home runs, bringing his total on the spring to three.

“It feels good,” Upton said following the game when asked about his hot start to the spring. “Being consistent in my work during the day and taking that into the game. That’s part of the plan.”

Although it’s a very small sample size, Upton is 5-for-10 with three homers and five RBI through the first week of Spring Training. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as he ended the 2020 season on a tear. To close out the season from August 28 through September 25, Upton hit .315 with an OPS of 1.042. In 21 games he hit six homers with 15 RBI. He was heating up, but it was too late. It looks as if he’s carried that over into the spring.

“Just being able to stay through the middle keeps you on all pitches,” he said. “I’ve been able to handle a few off-speed pitches early on in camp. Maintaining that approach can help me through the season.”

On the pitching side of things, we saw something unique happen with Andrew Heaney. After exiting the game in the first inning, he re-entered the game in the second inning. He recorded only one out in the first and was pulled.

“Nothing will piss you off like giving up four in the first and getting taken out,” Heaney said.

He ended up throwing 2 ¹⁄₃ innings. He didn’t allow runs in either inning after returning to the game. Heaney said he was more aggressive once he came back in. During the first inning, he was trying to hard to place balls and get a feel for the zone.

“There’s times where I consider myself to be pretty loose and free in my mechanics, but sometimes you’re trying to do it as opposed to being aggressive.”

Links

• Some great stuff from FanGraphs on Shohei Ohtani | His comeback trail | Into the future
• MLB Pipeline released the Angels’ top 30 prospects. Check em out here