Yasiel Puig’s tough season just took another turn for the worse.
When 2018 began, Puig was scorching the ball right at people. It felt like a degree of bad luck. That bad luck morphed into a miniature slump, which grew into a full-blown slump. On Saturday afternoon in San Francisco, the Dodgers’ outfielder suffered a few different injuries. As a result, Puig has been placed on the 10-day disabled list. This move corresponded with Alex Verdugo being called up for the second game of yesterday’s doubleheader.
Here’s how the first injury happened to Puig’s hip:
https://twitter.com/BallparkVids/status/990335119733948416
The good news is when I first saw this, I thought that Puig had badly hurt his shoulder. This was not the case, as this was the when the hip pointer occurred.
Puig is a tough player. He tried to stay in the game – what many players will call ‘grinding it out’ for the good of the team. As his (poor) luck would have it, he fouled a pitch off his foot during the first plate appearance after colliding with the wall in right field.
Yasiel Puig is not a doctor. "It should be bruised but I can't see it because it's the same color as me." Will get X-rays, out for Game 2 at least #Dodgers
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) April 29, 2018
Through 24 games this season, Puig has hit .193 with a .250 on-base and .250 slugging percentage in 88 at-bats. He has no home runs, and 19 strikeouts to seven walks. This has been the most challenging start to a season of his career, given the lofty expectations he entered 2018 with.
Analysis
This could end up a small positive for Puig, and hopefully the stint is no longer than two weeks total. It didn’t appear that Puig was coming out of the slump anytime soon – so sometimes an extended break away from the diamond for any reason can give them a necessary mental break. The Dodgers are going to need Puig to emerge at some point this season if they’re going to make a run of their own. His level of production is not acceptable for a player of his caliber – he is better than his statistics show – and he will be better at some point. Don’t be surprised to see the player return with a cleared mind, and suddenly more hits start falling and finding their way over the fence.
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