http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/03/13/griffeys-advice-gave-upton-a-boost/ TUCSON, Ariz. – Justin Upton has been compared to Ken Griffey Jr. on more than one occasion. You know, strong, swift, able to leap tall buildings ... all that kind of stuff. He says the comparison is "nice," but adds a cautionary note that while Junior has two decades in the game, "I'm working on my third year." Still, the 22-year-old right fielder of the Arizona Diamondbacks may well be following the same kind of career path that the now 40-year-old Griffey did as Seattle's first legitimate superstar many moons ago. Upton was taken out of high school with the first pick in the June draft in 2005. Griffey was the first pick out of high school, too, back in 1987. Griffey needed just one full season in the minors before he debuted in the majors as a 19-year-old and was an All-Star at 20. Upton, too, was in the big leagues after one full season in the minors and was an All-Star at 21. Upton is the owner of a new six-year, $51.25 deal, roughly comparable to the four-year, $24 million deal Griffey signed with the Mariners in 1992 when he was 22 and the best center fielder in the game. Since that time, Griffey has gone from being The Kid to being one of the game's elder statesmen. So when Upton struggled some last year with the Diamondbacks suffering through a losing season for the first time since he made it to the big leagues, having to go through a managerial change and see the clubhouse get a little snarky, some talks with Griffey helped Upton get his mind right. "I've got a long way to go," Upton said Saturday morning of the comparisons with Griffey. "But he's been good to me, really helped me out." The two first met five years ago when baseball's winter meetings took place in Orlando, about six months before Justin would play his first big league game. He was in the company of his brother, B.J., then an up-and-coming third baseman for Tampa Bay and now the Rays' center fielder. "We first talked a bit in Orlando," Upton said, "and he started giving me advice as I needed it. "That was great for me, because he was the player I looked up to when I was growing up. We really kind of hit it off." Asked about the nature of the advice, Upton said it was just baseball stuff, "a natural conversation." Griffey, who will be the Mariners' DH this year, explained Saturday morning that sometimes young players "just get lost." "Everybody goes through it," Griffey said. "I went through it. I tell 'em, 'Keep going.' That's it. The guy can flat play baseball. Just keep going [and] be yourself.'' Asked about his elder statesman status in general, Griffey said he's comfortable with the role. "[It's] because I've been around so long," Griffey said. "People think I know everything. I've seen a lot, been through a lot and when someone [else] is going through something you've been through, you can tell them that. This isn't an easy game, not for anyone." --

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