default-cbs-image

Tigers left fielder Justin Upton was having a pretty terrible season, but there's a reason he was signed to a six-year, $132.75 million deal this past offseason. He has a ton of talent. Is he finally tapping into it? He just might be.

Through Aug. 18, Upton was hitting .226/.281/.371 with 13 homers and 46 RBI. Given that he isn't much help on defense, this is utterly dreadful production. It would be bad no matter what, but for a player making the type of green Upton is, it was a major shortfall for the Tigers.

In the past four games, however, something's different. Have you felt it? Perhaps there's been an awakening.

Justin Upton is heating up. USATSI

In those four games, three of which were Tigers wins, Upton is 8 for 16 with two doubles, three homers and nine RBI. He's already raised his line to .236/.290/.400 on the season. It's still bad, but it's moving in the right direction.

Upton has long had the reputation of being streaky, fickle, a bit inconsistent ... you name it on this front. One thing he's mostly always been, however, is productive. From 2009 (when he was 21 years old) through last season, Upton's OPS+ was always between 110 and 141. Last season it was 119. Right now, it's 86, or 14 percent below league average when it comes to getting on base and hitting for power. That's from a no-glove corner outfielder

Again, though, with that track record and Upton being 28, he has plenty left in the tank and there's every reason to believe these last four games are a sign of things to come.

The presence of vintage Upton can particularly help in the short term to alleviate some of the lost offense from the injury to third baseman Nick Castellanos, who was in the midst of his breakout season when he broke his hand. He's due back mid-September.

The Tigers can't afford to wait to be at full strength, either. They are three games out of the second wild card and 5 1/2 behind the Indians in the AL Central. They do have a weak schedule the rest of the way, but they still have to win those games a high clip.

If they do get vintage Upton, the offense can look pretty scary. There are two legitimately outstanding offensive performers in Miguel Cabrera and J.D. Martinez along with the very-good Victor Martinez and Ian Kinsler. Even Cameron Maybin has been great since returning from a spring injury.

The Tigers enter Thursday ranking second in the AL in average, second in on-base percentage, fourth in slugging percentage, fifth in home runs and -- most importantly -- fifth in runs. It's already a very good offense. Getting the version of Justin Upton they paid for makes them that much better, and it looks like he's starting to morph back into that form.