BJ Upton changing name for 2015

Atlanta Braves outfielder BJ Upton is changing his name to his birth name Melvin Upton Jr. for the 2015 MLB season.

Braves outfielder BJ Upton is getting tired of his nickname, which stands for “Bossman Junior”, and he intends to change it back to Melvin Upton Jr., which is his birth name. Bossman was his father’s nickname, but unfortunately Bossman Junior hasn’t been much of a boss for the Braves in the first two years of a five year contract, during which he has hit .184 and .208 respectively.

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So, according to the Braves website, BJ is going back to Melvin, perhaps hoping to turn over a new leaf in the third year of his contract.

As the Braves’ site story points out, Upton achieves two things with the name change.

Besides turning over a new leaf, he can also appease those clamoring Braves fans who say they don’t want to see any BJ Upton in the lineup this year. Well, they definitely won’t. They’ll see Melvin Upton Jr. instead. Hopefully, Melvin Upton Jr. can change his production as easily as he changed his name.

Upton is expected to explain the reasons behind his name change when he reports to Braves camp early this week. Position players are required to report to camp on Tuesday and the first workout is scheduled for Wednesday.

Aside from disgruntled fans, the Braves will obviously also be hoping that Upton can find some production this year. They can’t very easily cut the ropes on a player to whom they owe $46.35 million in the next three seasons. It isn’t as though they haven’t tried, however. The Braves tried to unload Upton several times during the offseason, even offering to eat half his remaining contract. There were no takers.

Since signing the $75.25 million deal with the Braves before 2013, Upton has only managed to hit .198 with 21 homers and the lowest OPS among all major league players with at least 1,000 plate appearances, at .593.

He hit .184 in 2013 and raised that slightly last year to .208, but obviously it’s nowhere near what the Braves were expecting when they gave him that deal. Unfortunately, the Braves have a recent history of signing unproductive players to rich contracts. See: Dan Uggla.

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