Sources: Dodgers give Cuba's Puig $42 million

**Villain** · 07-29-2013, 02:24 PM

I fucking missed it. I watched the first two outs of the inning and then was in the next room when Puig came to bat. I just assumed he was going to get another K. Then I hear clapping and I'm thinking "idiot frontrunner Dodger fans getting out of their seats for another flyout." But then the clapping continued and I came back to the TV just as Punto ripped off the jersey. Dammit!

Let's just all forget about the bone headed pickoffs and such from earlier in the game.

**Villain** · 08-08-2013, 04:26 PM

Nice little post about Puig's improved plate discipline. It's Weisman so he adds stuff that doesn't matter, I'll bold the important notes:

Yasiel Puig, Plate Disciplinarian
Posted on August 7, 2013 by Jon Weisman

A Carl Crawford liner knocked St. Louis starter Shelby Miller out of the game after two pitches, a six-run second inning knocked around emergency reliever Jake Westbrook and the Dodgers more or less cruised thereafter to 25 baserunners (Crawford reached five times) in a 13-4 victory.

I rushed through that description so that I could get to what I wanted to talk about – the developing batting eye of Yasiel Puig.

After drawing skepticism and a bit of derision for his wild, swinging ways – seven walks in his first 42 games (against 43 strikeouts) – Puig has dramatically turned things around. With three walks tonight, Puig now has 12 walks in his past 13 games (against 14 strikeouts). That’s a 150-walk pace over a 162-game season.

Only one of the 12 walks has been intentional.

It’s not that Puig has been timid in the plate. Emerging for a slump that lowered his OPS to a season-worst .967 (yeah, season-worst) on July 22, Puig has gone exactly 20 for 50 with those 12 walks, two hit-by-pitches, four doubles and three home runs. That’s a .400 batting average, .531 on-base percentage, .660 slugging percentage and 1.191 OPS during that stretch.

Puig has drawn five walks in the four games that Hanley Ramirez has missed this week, but that alone doesn’t account for his improved showing. And it means that 240 plate appearances into his career, Puig still has an OPS well over 1.000.

His ups were followed by some downs, and his downs have now turned into some ups. The ride will continue, but it’s hard not to be excited by his ability to show power with restraint.

So yeah, he's basically Jeff Francoeur / Justin Ruggiano 2.0.