Notable Black Baseball Families #4: Melvin "B.J." Upton Jr. & Justin Upton
The fourth article in this series focuses on Justin and B.J. Upton, two brothers who were drafted first and second overall in their respective draft classes. They both played over ten years in MLB.
Introduction
This article series will focus not only on African-American families that have played in the Negro Leagues, Latin American Winter Leagues, MiLB, and MLB but notable Black families from throughout the entire African diaspora who have had multiple members make significant contributions to the sport.
Background + Path to MLB
Familial relationships make up an important part of professional baseball’s lore and in the 21st century, few duos have been as impressive as the Upton Brothers. They grew up in the Norfolk area of Virginia’s Hampton Roads as the sons of a mortgage broker father named Manny who was a part-time scout for the Kansas City Royals and a basketball referee in the MEAC conference and a mother named Yvonne who was a teacher. Manny was a star baseball player at local HBCU Norfolk State University as an outfielder and catcher.
Both Melvin and Justin were identified as top-tier baseball players in Virginia at an early age, and as they got older the stories of their feats started to accumulate. They competed on travel teams with future major leaguers Mark Reynolds, David Wright, and Ryan Zimmerman in grade school and were heavily scouted by MLB clubs throughout high school.
The older brother Melvin “BJ” Upton Jr. was drafted with the second overall pick of the 2002 MLB Draft directly out of high school, made his MLB debut at 19 years old, and finished his career with 1469 games played across 12 seasons. The younger brother Justin Upton was drafted with the first overall pick of the 2005 MLB Draft directly out of high school and made his MLB debut at 19 years old. He was selected to play in the MLB All-Star game four times and won three Silver Slugger awards during his 16-year career.
The Upton brothers’ careers are connected in a myriad of ways. They’re the only two brothers to be selected first and second overall in a MLB Draft. They played together on two different franchises during their careers for a total of three consecutive seasons.
On April 6th, 2013 they became the first pair of brothers to hit home runs in the same inning since Bill and Cal Ripken achieved the feat in 1996. Later that month on April 23rd, they became the second pair of brothers in MLB history to hit back-to-back home runs. They achieved a feat that had only been accomplished by the Waner Brothers in 1938.
Melvin “B.J.” Upton Jr.
Melvin “B.J.” Upton Jr. is a centerfielder who played for the Tampa Bay Rays, Atlanta Braves, and San Diego Padres during his 12 years in MLB. He was selected by Tampa Bay with the second overall pick of the 2002 MLB Draft out of Greenbrier Christian Academy in Chesapeake, Virginia. Some other notable players from the 2002 MLB Draft include Prince Fielder, Zack Greinke, Joey Votto, Curtis Granderson, and Jon Lester.
His professional career began during the 2003 MiLB season, getting assigned to Tampa Bay’s A-ball affiliate in the South Atlantic League as a shortstop. After dominating with a .302/.394/.445 slash line, the eighteen-year-old received a late-season promotion to Double-A. Upton Jr. was six years younger than the average player and the youngest player in Double-A. During the 2004 season, he spent 98 games with Tampa Bay’s Double-A and Triple-A affiliates, going .315/.410/.505 with 24 doubles and 14 home runs across 433 plate appearances.
The 19-year-old shortstop made his MLB debut on August 2nd, 2004 against the Boston Red Sox, getting a single and drawing a walk. He played in 45 games during the 2004 season, going .258/.324/.409 with eight doubles and four home runs. He struggled tremendously on the defensive side of the ball, committing seven errors in only 16 appearances and 140 total defensive innings as a shortstop. He was sent back down to Triple-A for all of the 2005 season and most of the 2006 season, appearing in 50 MLB games in 2006.
After struggling on the left side of the infield as a defender, Upton Jr. was moved to the outfield in 2007 to take advantage of his speed and free up infield opportunities for superior defenders. He split his first full MLB season playing second base and roaming centerfield for Tampa Bay. The next season he established himself as the Rays full-time centerfielder and it was a mantle he possessed until 2012.
Upton Jr. went .255/.336/.423 during his six years as a position player for the Rays. He averaged 34 doubles, 20 home runs, and 40 steals per 162 games via Baseball Reference. He was a legitimate power/speed threat on a year-to-year basis, finishing his career with four 20 HR/20 SB seasons. The center fielder hit 164 home runs for his career and hit at least 15 home runs in five individual seasons. He stole at least 20 bases in eight different seasons.
His 300 career stolen bases are the fifteenth most accumulated by a qualified position player during the 21st century per FanGraphs. He was a slightly below-average defender in centerfield due to a lack of experience but had the speed to make most routine plays and the occasional flashy play. He also had the arm strength to rack up a decent amount of outfield assists.
He was one of the core pieces of the Rays from 2006 to 2012, helping the ball club reach its first four 90-win seasons in franchise history. He was the starting centerfielder on the team that competed against the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2008 World Series. Some other franchise firsts Upton Jr. contributed to include the franchise’s first three playoff berths and the franchise’s first division crown. During his time in Tampa Bay, he played alongside franchise icons David Price, Evan Longoria, Ben Zobrist, Carl Crawford, Carlos Peña, and James Shields. During the 2009 season, Upton Jr. became the first Tampa Bay Ray in MLB history to hit for the cycle.
After the 2012 season, Upton Jr. became a free agent and signed a five-year, $75 million dollar contract with the Atlanta Braves in late November. He was joining a 94-win Atlanta team that finished 2nd in the NL East and was in one of the two NL Wild Card slots during the 2012 season. Two months later in January 2013, Atlanta sent five players to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for his brother Justin.
The Braves won 96 games and finished first in the NL East during the Upton Brothers’ first season playing together in 2013 before losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2013 NLDS. The next season Atlanta would limp to a 79-83 record and 2nd place in the NL East. Along with his brother Justin, B.J. was one of the core pieces of a Braves squad that included Freddie Freeman, Jason Heyward, Andrelton Simmons, and Craig Kimbrel. Early in the 2015 MLB season, Upton Jr. was traded from the Atlanta Braves to the San Diego Padres along with Craig Kimbrel in exchange for four players and a draft pick. This move happened four months after his brother Justin was traded by Atlanta to San Diego. 2015 was the Upton Brothers’ third consecutive and final season playing together.
In the middle of the 2016 season, Upton Jr. was traded from San Diego to the Toronto Blue Jays. He started strong with the Padres during the first half of the season, but once he got moved to Toronto his OPS fell by almost 200 points. The 2016 season was his final year in MLB and during the 2017 MiLB season, he made a brief cameo with the Giants Triple-A affiliate in an unsuccessful attempt to nab a bench role or catch interest from a club that needed a veteran outfielder. As of 2023, he is essentially retired from MLB.
Justin Upton
Justin Upton is a corner outfielder who played in MLB for 16 seasons, starting his career at 19 years old and ending it at 34. The four-time All-Star and three-time Silver Slugger winner played for six different teams during his career. He was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks with the first overall pick of the 2005 MLB Draft out of Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake, Virginia. He forewent a full scholarship to the University of North Carolina and accepted a massive $6.1 million dollar signing bonus to begin his professional career with Arizona.
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