Justin Upton!

The most anticipated player in the Diamondback minor league system is now in the bigs. With Carlos Quentin tweaking his hamstring on his double last night and a trip to the 15 day Disabled List, it opened the door for the 19 year old. My guess is he will receive an at-bat late in todays game verses the Padres and get his first start Friday night against the Dodgers.

I have been against bringing him up for most of the year because I want him to continue to develop playing full time vs playing sparingly for the Dbacks. But with Hairston traded last week and Quentin on the DL, it looks as if he will get the opportunity to play every day. It also leaves DaVanon on the bench as the 4th outfielder, which is where he belongs. The other reason I didn't want Upton to come up is because of the huge responsibility of leading the Diamondbacks that will ultimately fall on his shoulders. He has been portrayed as the future or savior of the DBacks, and that is too much to put on any 19 year old.

Now actually might be a good time to bring him up because of the 10 wins in the past 11 games. The team is rolling and instead of having to be the savior, he can focus on being the right fielder. He can get comfortable with the big leagues and slowly develop his major league game while just being a cog on a hot baseball team. There will be less pressure on him because the team is playing so well. If he is the real deal, he can help lead the Dbacks to the playoffs. If he struggles... well Quentin was only batting .205, so the RF production has been terrible anyway. Looking forward to seeing the kid Friday night and lets hope the team continues to win series', play well, and lead the division.