B.J. Upton wears glasses for first time in career

ATLANTA -- Braves center fielder B.J. Upton assumed a studious look as he wore glasses for the first time in his career during Friday night's 5-4 win over the Reds. He exited the victory with some confidence that the prescription lenses will help him escape the struggles he has experienced since coming to Atlanta last year.

Upton has been told he should wear glasses while driving at night dating back to his high-school days. But it was not until the conclusion of Wednesday afternoon's game against the Marlins that he decided he would spend a portion of Thursday's off-day getting a pair of glasses that he could wear during games.

"I noticed a difference [in my vision] over last year and some of this year," Upton said. "It wasn't anything big. But I think it was enough for me to not really pick up spin on the ball. So I just figured we should try something."

Upton was pleased with the results that he garnered as he went 1-for-4 during Friday's win. He hit a sharp infield single that Reds third baseman Todd Frazier prevented from going down the left-field line in the first inning. In his next at-bat, he lined out to center field.

"The first one I thought he rolled over," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "It looked like he was going to make the turn thinking it was going to be a double. He made it closer than it should have been at first. The next one he hit, he hit it right on the nose. That's a good [at-bat]."

Upton has shown some signs of encouragement as he has batted .244 with a .358 on-base percentage in his past 12 games. This is certainly an improvement given what he provided last year, when he hit .184 with a .268 on-base percentage.

"I definitely noticed a difference tonight," Upton said. "We'll see how it goes."