Comprised of 240 lbs of muscle and mystery, the Cuban demonstrated his frustration during an ejection incident after slamming his bat on a called 3rd strike a couple weeks ago. Yasiel Puig has looked great with a 1.085 OPS and three home runs. But can we be convinced by such a small sample size?
Puig’s stance has also changed to more open (Think Justin Turner and Joc Pederson), which I think will help him generate more power. Puig really needs to learn how to lay off the outside pitch. According to Fangraphs, he swings at around 30% of balls out of the zone and makes contact with about 56% of the pitches he swings on the outside of the strike zone.
Fans expectations of our 2013 season hero have dwindled every season since that insane debut. He seems to have electric dramatic ever-so-often moments as well. He was demoted last year to the minors for a brief stint, only to earn a spot back on the playoff roster with minimal impact in those games (.571 OPS). I honestly was expecting a trade since the Dodgers didn’t really need him. With a crazy deep platoon in the outfield, we wouldn’t miss him that much. I don’t think Puig will ever reach the godlike status that he had in his first 200 games, but I have some faith that he can be a 2-3 WAR player for us in the next few years. He’s young at 26 and just needs to stay what the Dodgers can’t seem to do: healthy.
With regards to the drama stuff, I don’t mind it as I appreciate a player who has a little bit of zip and wants “to make baseball fun again”. I’m hoping the best for our Cuban outfielder this upcoming season.
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