Dodgers' Puig Showing Signs of Progress

The club needs him to find his swing as the playoffs near

I probably shouldn’t write about Yasiel Puig anymore, considering what happened last time.

On Aug. 5 I had the bright idea of declaring him the frontrunner in the NL MVP race

Maybe I got a little over excited, but the kid was on fire.

He had just won NL Player of the Month for July, he was doing Yasiel Puig things and Mike Trout was coming to town, so that only added to my giddiness.

At the time, Puig was hitting .313 with 13 home runs and 55 RBIs.

He hasn’t been the same since.

In his last 26 games, Puig is hitting .194, he hasn’t hit a single homer and he’s driven in five runs. Five!

I feel a little responsible.

I wouldn’t take it personal if Don Mattingly banned me from the locker room. If I were him, I’d sure consider it.

Sports

Get today's sports news out of Los Angeles. Here's the latest on the Dodgers, Lakers, Angels, Kings, Galaxy, LAFC, USC, UCLA and more LA teams.

Everything you need to know about the Dodgers Opening Week at Chavez Ravine

No. 1 UNC upset by No. 4 Alabama 89-87 in March Madness

But, Puig may be turning a corner.

He went 1 for 4 with an RBI in a win Monday night against the Padres and Mattingly says his center fielder is making progress.

"[He] gets on base, [he] drives in a run…you just start to see a different look to a guy when they start to gain confidence from seeing the ball better," Mattingly said. "It’s a start but sometime that’s the start of a little streak, so we’ll see."

Mattingly says Puig’s power shortage has nothing to do with his Home Run Derby appearance during All-Star weekend. Then again, Puig didn’t hit any balls out so it’s not like he had to put away the home-run swing.

He did have a child recently, so we could attribute the downslide to the fact that Puig probably hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in awhile. 

The Dodgers are winning so it’s not a big deal, at least for now. But, with phenom Joc Pederson now on the roster, Mattingly has options should Puig’s slide continue.

But, as the skipper said, "We’ll see."

Contact Us