Since I've been living down in SW Fla, I've been following the Rays, and noticed this a few days ago. Took a look at Upton's three-year September splits... he has a .496 SLG for September, compared to .408 overall, and it's 50 points better than his best month. Without busting out my college statistics text, that *seems* significant (but I'm going nowhere near the "clutch" argument).

From a purely subjective view... I've seen dozens of his at-bats, and he has a a gorgeous swing -- reminds me of a righty Griffey Jr. -- but that might be exactly why he has the contact problem mentioned in the article. It's a fast swing, but it's big and sweeping, and seems like there might be a huge hole in the swing for pitchers to exploit.

With that contact rate, I think he's more likely to really crater in near future. And it sure limits his upside. I sure hope my rooting interest doesn't bite during the offseason.

Since I've been living down in SW Fla, I've been following the Rays, and noticed this a few days ago. Took a look at Upton's three-year September splits... he has a .496 SLG for September, compared to .408 overall, and it's 50 points better than his best month.

Baseball Reference has his 2010-2012 Sept/Oct SLG at .597 in 226 AB. His 2010-2012 overall SLG is .433, so SLG within one standard deviation in either direction on that over 226 PA is in the .397 - .469 range.

Thanks, SG, I just used the Sept. figures off ESPN. His October numbers are ridiculous but also are in just 25 AB or so, iirc. Thanks also for running the SD for me; too lazy to open up R and do it myself. Seems like he gets hot at the end of the year; call it whatever you will.