Healthy & leading off, Upton in vintage form

ANAHEIM -- On May 23, with the Angels a season-worst eight-games under .500 and Justin Upton hitting just .188, manager Joe Maddon made the unorthodox decision to move the left fielder to the leadoff spot in the lineup against the A’s.

Upton went 2-for-4 with an RBI in a 6-5 win that day, and both the Angels and Upton have taken off since then. Upton has batted .329/.426/.588 with five homers, seven doubles and 14 RBIs in 22 games as leadoff hitter, while the Angels have gone 16-8 since then to reach .500 heading into Saturday’s game against the Tigers.

“He's been fun to watch,” Maddon said. “Keep watching. I look up at the board and I see an OPS above .800 and an on-base percentage that's ascending. But beyond that, it’s just how he’s leading right now. He is enjoying it. It’s obvious the other players feel it, the coaches feel it. I want to believe the fans feel it. He’s maybe the biggest reason we’ve ascended like we have.”

It’s been a resurgence for Upton, who dealt with injuries and struggled offensively from 2019-20, batting a combined .210/.301/.418 with 21 homers and 62 RBIs in 105 games. The 33-year-old is healthy this year, and it shows -- not only in his offensive numbers, but in his speed on the basepaths. His average sprint speed was in the 46th percentile in 2019 and the 51st percentile in 2020 but has improved to the 63rd percentile this year. He's also hitting .245/.337/.481 with 14 homers and 32 RBIs in 61 games this year.

"I'm feeling pretty good up there,” Upton said. “I'm seeing the ball better. I'm getting better swings off. The last couple years, it just wasn't there. I did the same things in the cage and kept grinding and trying to be productive. The end of last year was pretty good but this year, the start was bad. But I feel pretty good right now."

Brown excited for Home Run Derby
Bullpen catcher Jason Brown will pitch to two-way star Shohei Ohtani in the T-Mobile Home Run Derby at Coors Field on July 12 and said he’s excited for the opportunity. Brown started throwing batting practice professionally as a coach with the Yankees in 2015 and joined the Angels last year.

Ohtani doesn’t take batting practice on the field before games, and his own routine in the cages also doesn’t feature Brown. But Brown is Ohtani’s favorite batting practice pitcher during Spring Training, and Ohtani asked him earlier this week if he’d be interested in throwing to him in the event.

“I was honored,” Brown said. “I was a little surprised, but mostly honored. Going back to the 2020 Spring Training, I guess there's something about the way I throw that he likes. And so he requested me. Usually, I get him enough strikes to give him something to work with. It's so fun to watch. It's incredible the way his body works. I'm out there throwing, but I'm also watching."

Rendon returns to lineup
Third baseman Anthony Rendon returned to the lineup and batted fourth on Saturday after missing four games with a right triceps strain sustained on a diving play at third base on Monday. He participated in an on-field workout and took batting practice before the game. But the lineup wasn’t announced until roughly an hour and a half before first pitch on Saturday.

Ward impressing Maddon
Maddon writes the same slogan on the lineup card everyday -- “take it” -- and believes right fielder Taylor Ward has taken to that mantra. Ward entered Saturday’s game riding a career-high eight-game hitting streak, including going 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs on Friday.

Ward is batting .256/.338/.466 with seven homers, seven doubles and 27 RBIs in 41 games this year and is getting regular playing time in right field. Maddon believes Ward has what it takes to be a regular player in the Majors.

“He’s taken control of his own career is what he’s done,” Maddon said. “Right now, his swing is 100 times better than when I first saw him and he had that uppercut swing a couple years ago. And he’s jumping them early in the count. In the past, he’d take strike one and then maybe foul one off and he’d be 0-2, 1-2 all the time. I love his method right now. It’s the method of a winner.”