Yasiel Puig is good. Really good.
Is he all-star worthy? Well, let’s look at the stats.
Puig bats .407/.441/.659 with 8
homers and 19 RBI’s in 34 games as a Los Angeles Dodger. He has a WAR of 2.6,
which is really good for someone that’s played only 34 games.
Speaking of only 34 games, that’s
not enough for qualifications for NL MVP, Rookie of the Year, or any other
award. There’s a reason for that; it’s because his stats have not regressed
towards the mean yet. It takes probably 100 games or even 400 plate appearances
to determine it.
So why does Puig deserve to be in
the all-star game?
Like I said, he’s a great player.
But he still has yet to regress towards the mean, so it could be just that he
had a hot start to the league. Last week he was batting .443, but now just bats
.407. That’s a huge difference! It shows that he probably won’t bat .400 for
this entire season. Over .300? Yeah sure, but over .400 is Ty Cobb and Ted
Williams averages.
In 34 games, anybody can get hot
and increase their stats by a good measure. In fact, that’s happened, so why
hasn’t anybody noticed them? Probably because Puig is a rookie and he plays
like a mini Bo Jackson. But let’s take a look at guys that have been hot in a
34 game span, or just in a month.
Jason Kipnis (Indians): In the month
of June, Kipnis batted .419/.517/.699, and moved his batting average from .243
to .299. He hit 12 doubles and had 25 RBI’s on the month. He now bats
.294/.377/.513, and is not an all-star.
Michael Cuddyer (Rockies): During
his 27 game hitting streak, Cuddyer batted over .350, and totaled 42 hits in
the span. He now bats .336/.393/.576, and is an all-star.
Bartolo Colon: In the month of
June, Colon had a 1.75 ERA while going 5-0. He won eight decisions in a row,
and is now 12-3 with a 2.69 ERA. He is an all-star.
Stephen Strasburg: Strasburg surprisingly
went under the radar this season, probably because he got off to an non-Strasburg
like start. But in May and June, Strasburg posted a sub 2 ERA, yet only went
3-2 in 9 starts. He is not in the all-star game.
And now, my favorite. It’s true
that the Dodgers have performed significantly well since Puig started, but is
that all because of him? There’s one guy that has gone under the radar, but has
possibly performed better.
Hanley Ramirez: That’s right, Puig’s
own teammate has performed just as well ever since coming off of the DL. In 34
games, just like Puig, Ramirez bats .404/.445/.716 with 7 homers and 21 RBI’s.
He has a 2.2 WAR, and is playing like he did in 2009. With almost identical
stats, why hasn’t Ramirez gotten the same credit? I don’t know.
Puig won’t bat this good all
season, which is why I think that someone else who has played the entire season
deserves it more than him. Someone like Freddie Freeman, who is leading in the
voting for last man in. You can vote at mlb.com. Voting ends tomorrow at 4 ET.
You decide if you want Puig in the
all-star game now. Let the stats convince you otherwise.
Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com if you disagree
with me.
-Evan Boyd
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