Patience, please: Upton's still developing

Justin Upton is 21 years old.

Sometimes we forget that. In the rush to anoint him as the next big thing in baseball, we gloss over some fairly important facts.

For instance, is it irrelevant that Upton graduated from high school just four years ago? Or that he was rushed to the big leagues before he was ready? How about the fact he's still the seventh-youngest player in the game?

No, Upton was dubbed the second coming of Willie Mays. He has to play like it. Now.

"It's an honor, but I'm not Willie Mays," Upton said. "I'm Justin Upton. I have to make a name for myself."

Upton seems to have a good handle on the oversized expectations. But that doesn't make his struggles this season any easier to take. He's hitting .105 - he was 1 of 3 in the Diamondbacks' 12-7 loss to St. Louis Wednesday - and his RBI in the fifth inning was his first of the year.

That, after a Cactus League campaign in which he hit .197 and didn't have a single homer in 61 at-bats.

"It's baseball," Upton said. "You have those times when you're going to be scuffling a bit."

It's evident now that Upton needed more time in the minor leagues when Arizona called him up in August of 2007. He hit .221 the rest of that season, and last year he had 121 strikeouts in 356 at-bats while hitting .250.

But it's hard to blame the Diamondbacks for accelerating Upton's arrival. He was tearing it up at Class AA Mobile - USA Today named him the Minor League Player of the Year for '07 - and he has the kind of raw athletic ability that leaves scouts, coaches and GMs in awe.

That talent is also why Arizona opted against demoting Upton when he was hitless in his first 15 at-bats this year. The Diamondbacks thought about it but ultimately decided to play him every day and see if he could figure it out.

"Being a competitor," I don't think I need to go down," Upton said. "I think it's a matter of time before I get hot and start swinging the bat."

It's no secret why Upton isn't hitting. As he begins his swing, his hands are too high and the bat is wrapped around his head; thus it takes him too long to get the bat through the strike zone.

The irony is, that's exactly what Upton and hitting coach Rick Schu tried to correct during the off-season. But as soon as Cactus League games began, Upton reverted to his "bad habits."

Mention all this to Upton, and he rolls his eyes.

"It's a lot easier to say you're wrapping your bat than to fix something you've been doing every single day," Upton said. ... "It's a lot easier to break a bad habit than it is to get one."

Upton has become the golfer who can't take his driving range swing onto the golf course. He's worried so much about the technical aspects of his swing he can't just see the ball, hit the ball.

"You can't have too many thoughts when you're going up there," manager Bob Melvin said. "You don't have a lot of time to process the ball when it leaves the pitcher's hand. You kind of have to be a blank slate at the plate."

Melvin believes Upton is slowly coming out of his funk. He said Upton's hands have been in a better position - i.e. lower - the last few days and that he's become more patient at the plate.

One example: In the fifth inning Wednesday Upton got two quick strikes on him but then worked the count full before lacing a double to right-center field, scoring Chris Young.

"I'm just trying to keep it really simple and get in position to hit the ball," Upton said. "Sometimes that gets away from me."

Eventually, Upton's mechanics will catch up with his talent, and he'll become the player everyone thought he would be when the Diamondbacks made him the No. 1 pick in the June 2005 amateur draft.

But for now, everyone will have to be patient.

Justin Upton is 21 years old.