The Diamondbacks had a glut of outfielders after the season, with returning mainstays Justin Upton, Jason Kubel, and Gerardo Parra joined by free agent signee Cody Ross and top youngster Adam Eaton coming off a strong season in AAA.
In January 2013, they sought to trade Upton to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for a package of pitching prospects, but Upton refused the deal on January 10th, exercising his no-trade clause.
However, on January 24th, another trade was made, this time to the Atlanta Braves, which Upton accepted because it meant he could play with his brother B.J., who had signed with the Braves as a free agent earlier in the off-season.
Justin was accompanied to Atlanta by 3B Chris Johnson, and the Diamondbacks obtained five players in exchange.
On April 6, 2013, Justin blasted a pair of home runs for the Braves against the Chicago Cubs.
The second was a walk-off home run against Carlos Marmol in the bottom of the ninth inning that gave the Braves a 6-5 victory; his brother B.J. had also homered off Marmol to tie the game a few batters earlier.
It was the first time two brothers have homered in the same inning since the Baltimore Orioles’ Billy and Cal Ripken did it on May 28, 1996.
The Braves enjoyed a great start to the season, going 11-1 in the first two weeks, thanks in large part to Justin, who had a major league-leading 7 home runs at the time.
Has Justin Upton Been An All-Star?
Upton was named an All Star for the third time in his career on July 6, 2015.