Thursday, June 6, 2013

Potential Player: Yasiel Puig



Hey you Dodgers fans! There’s a big prospect that you need to look out for in the future. In fact, the entire Major Leagues should watch out for him. Just added this week, let’s take a look at OF Yasiel Puig.
http://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/headshots/mlb/players/full/32574.png&w=350&h=254 
Yasiel Puig is a Cuban OF who signed a seven year, $42 million dollar contract with the Dodgers (note, soon a lot of these Cuban players will start showing up, such as Cubs’ Jorge Soler). He just made his MLB debut this past Monday, and boy has he been tearing it up.
Right now he is batting .417 with a .375 BABIP, and a WAR of .3. Now of course, he’s not going to bat .417 the entire season, nor probably have a .375 BABIP. Remember, things still have to regress towards the mean. But the fact that the guy hit two home runs in one game for the Dodgers does show some life for the team that overspent on washed guys. Prospects like these are the things that the Dodgers need to look for.
What I liked from him is his amazing defense. Against the Padres, Puig had a catch on the warning track, and threw out the guy at first ON A FLY. Yeah, that’s what I like to see from a Right Fielder.
People are comparing him to Bo Jackson. That’s crap. Bo Jackson was an amazing, talented athlete that could be put down as one of the greats (even though his baseball career was just ok). Others compare him to Vladimir Guerrero. I still think that’s a stretch, Vlad was one of the best Dominican Republic players to ever play the game.
After seeing that amazing throw from right field, I’d like to compare him to Jim Edmonds. Edmonds, who is most well known for playing with the Cardinals, had a lot of power, but also had one of the best arms baseball has ever seen.
It’s tough to figure out how a player is going to do when he’s only played since Monday. Based on my calculations, I say that he can be a .272 hitter who can club around 25 to 30 homers a year. It’s not the great Puig that everyone wants, but those numbers are not so bad, especially with such great defense. He could rack up a WAR of 5 or 6 in his prime years and be a 4 or 5 time all-star.
That’s my feeling about him. I’d like to see this guy thrive, I really do. I’m not even a Dodgers fan, but I’d like to see them recover from a terrible acquisition last season (yes, I do think that getting everyone from the Red Sox was a terrible idea). Maybe he can bring this team out of last place, even.
The Dodgers have one of the best pitchers in the game, Clayton Kershaw. They should be doing much better. But hey, with a guy like Yasiel Puig, they could be getting back on track.

Have any questions, comments, or concerns? Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com.

-Evan Boyd
“I don’t have to get a pitch down the middle. If I like the pitch – even if it’s 15 inches off the plate, and that’s the pitch I wanted – I’m swinging” – Vladimir Guerrero

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