DUNEDIN, Fla. – It was a lost line in a long scrum. Last Saturday, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins met the Toronto media for the first time in spring training and spent much of the session talking about Justin Smoak playing first base and Steve Pearce playing left field.

But at one point, as reporters tried to make sense of that, Atkins volunteered that Melvin Upton Jr. “is a very good major league player, and very well could be the guy that’s playing regularly in left field for us.”

The GM dwelled on Upton for only a few seconds more, declaring that “he’s driven, he’s motivated, he’s obviously very talented, so a great piece to have in the equation.”

Upton’s slash line in 57 games for the Blue Jays last year: .196/.261/.318, for an OPS of .578. During his time with Toronto, his WAR was a minus 0.4, according to Baseball-Reference.com. That means a replacement player from the minor leagues would likely have done better.

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Upton is soft-spoken and cordial in our interview. He is also enigmatic. He keeps the important things to himself.

At one point, he offers a tantalizing morsel.

Last year in San Diego, before he was traded to Toronto, he was enjoying a respectable season, with 16 homers, a .743 OPS and a 1.8 WAR.

The key to his success?

“Just a different attitude, man, that I’d like to keep to myself,” he says, emitting a small smile.

I ask what he means.

“They always say this game is 90 per cent mental,” he says. “I kind of got back to myself, I’ll say that.”

He makes it clear, softly but firmly, that he will say no more on the subject of his mental state in 2016.

It is logical to assume that frustration badgered him as a Blue Jay. He did not hit. He struck out in roughly 30 per cent of his plate appearances. Over one stretch in August, he struck out twice in seven straight games. At 31, he looked like a player incapable of catching up with a fastball, unless it was in the low 90s and straight as a string.

He refuses to blame his futility on the shock of the trade that brought him from San Diego on July 26 for a pitcher still in rookie ball. The Padres were so eager to unload him that they agreed to pay all but $5-million of the $22.3-million left on his five-year contract, which expires after the coming season.

“I always knew there was a possibility (of a trade), especially where we were with the Padres,” Upton says. “They kind of wanted to go young and they let us know that, the guys that were traded. So no, I wasn’t surprised.”

And his new teammates made him feel welcome, he says.

“They made the transition pretty easy,” he says. “I’d say it was definitely more different than difficult.”

In the clubhouse, perhaps. On the field, it surely looked difficult.

“Obviously, it didn’t finish the way I wanted it to,” he says. “I was kind of put in a situation where I was platooning. Before I came over I was playing every day. Honestly, man, I did the best with what I had. I gave it all I had and it didn’t end up the way I wanted it to, but I ended up on a good ball club and we made a nice playoff push.”

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Melvin Upton Jr. was traded to the Blue Jays last July. Photo by John Lott.

Indeed, the plan was for Upton to platoon. He is a right-handed hitter with better numbers against left-handed pitchers. Michael Saunders, a left-handed hitter, was playing left field, but struggling. Ezequiel Carrera, another left-handed hitter, was waiting in the wings.

But Upton cannot complain about being platooned, at least not at the start. Within two days in early August, Kevin Pillar and Jose Bautista landed on the disabled list. Upton took over in centre field, a spot he had manned for most of his 12-year career. In August, he played from start to finish in 26 of the Jays’ 28 games. He batted .226 and logged an underwhelming .644 OPS.

Then, in September and October, with Pillar and Bautista back, he was indeed platooned, playing only 10 of the Jays’ 29 games from start to finish and entering 12 other games late as a defensive replacement.

Down the stretch, he batted .156 with a .522 OPS. He hit one homer, and it was important, a two-run shot that helped the Jays beat Boston 3-2 on Sept. 10.

He believes he would perform better if he plays every day.

“That’s kind of the way it’s been in the past,” he says. “I’ve learned to handle the platoon situation a little bit more, but I will definitely say I’m better when I get the reps.”

He got them in Tampa Bay at the start of his career, as the Rays – then the Devil Rays – were morphing from worst to first. He was a star in the 2008 playoffs when they went to the World Series. In the postseason, he hit seven home runs, after hitting only nine during the regular season.

Upton has had an odd career. His best year was his first full season as a regular in 2010. In 2012, his free-agent season, he enjoyed his power peak with 28 homers, setting him up for a five-year, $72.25-million contract with Atlanta.

He stayed there for two seasons, hitting .198 with 21 homers and a .593 OPS. In April 2015, the Braves traded elite closer Craig Kimbrel to San Diego. They insisted the Padres take Upton too.

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And now, in Toronto, there is talk of an odd sort of platoon in left field. It is difficult to fathom. Each of the principal candidates hits left-handers better than right-handers, and, as if you needed reminding, most pitchers are right-handed.

This chart omits another candidate. Dalton Pompey is a switch-hitter who has played in just 59 major-league games and has slashed only .222/.291/.385. A Toronto native, he enjoys a hometown rooting interest. If he plays well this spring, Pompey could make the left-field puzzle more complex than it already is.

But consider this. Sure, Atkins was pumping everyone’s tires in that scrum last Saturday, but what if Upton – a veteran with speed, good defensive skills and experience at all three outfield spots – can revive his hitting stroke? What if he leaves the Jays little choice but to play him regularly in left field?

Sure, it sounds like a long shot, but what if Upton hits as well for the Blue Jays this year as he did in San Diego before the trade? What then for Pearce and Smoak and Carrera?

The Jays would happily sort out that conundrum. Meanwhile, Upton won’t touch the topic.

“It’s a non-issue for me, man,” he says, interrupting me in mid-question. “I’ve had to come in and win jobs basically my whole career. I don’t even talk about it.”

Wait a minute. All those years in Tampa Bay, you were a regular. You had to win jobs?

“I had years where I didn’t and I had years where I did, even last year being one of them,” he replies.

He will admit that he feels more comfortable starting fresh with the Blue Jays this spring than he did after the trade last year.

“You walk into a new situation and don’t know what to expect,” he says. “It was more different than difficult. But at the same time, you’ve got to deal with it.

“Yeah, this spring’s a little bit different.”

If it’s a whole lot different, it could be a boon for the Blue Jays.

Upton is eyeing the starter’s spot in left field for the Blue Jays this season. Photo by John Lott.