Like most Dodger fans, I am a huge Yasiel Puig fan and can’t wait for him to make his major league debut with the Dodgers. But as we all know, there is a contractual logjam in the Dodgers outfield that prevented Yasiel from breaking spring training camp with the Dodgers, this in spite of having one of the greatest spring trainings in MLB history. Instead, Puig broke camp and landed on the opening day roster for the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts – and most certainly through no fault of his own.

Yasiel Puig had what was arguably the greatest spring training in MLB history.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Puig did everything that he could have possibly done to make the Dodgers opening day roster, but there was simply no place to put him where he could play every day, and he absolutely needs to play every day.

Although Puig will undoubtedly be the most closely watched Dodger prospect since Clayton Kershaw, with each successful at bat by Dodger left fielder Carl Crawford and right fielder Andre Ethier, Puig’s eventual major league debut gets pushed back further and further.

Carl Crawford is off to what could very well be an MVP year. He collected his first home run of the season in Wednesday night’s 4-3 win over the Padres. He missed hitting a second home run by inches and ended up with a triple instead.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Amidst the never-ending rumors and speculation of an Ethier trade (in spite of his lofty and lengthy 5-year/$85 million contract), the veteran outfielder just keeps on silently plugging along and silently adding to his 2013 numbers while being overshadowed by Crawford’s smoking hot start and Puig’s superhuman minor league numbers.

Through eight games thus far in the very young 2013 season, Crawford’s triple-slash numbers of .464 / .531 / .714 and Puig’s five-game numbers (the Lookouts have been rained out twice this past week) of .467 / .556 / .733, make Ethier’s normal numbers of .320 / .393 / .520  seem like… well… normal. But as normal as they may seem, they are All-Star-caliber numbers. And while the sample size is rather small (only 25 at bats), these numbers do not even take into consideration of the fact that Ethier is hitting an improbable .429 against left-handers and an even more improbable .182 against right-handers. Granted, these numbers will undoubtedly swap as the season wears on, but to see this kind of success from Andre, especially against lefties, will probably delay Puig’s road to the Big leagues even longer.

Still think Ethier can’t hit lefties? He is currently hitting .429 against them while hitting .182 against right-handers. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Another factor that most Puig-hungry fans might not be taking into consideration is that when Hanley Ramirez returns to the Dodger line-up (which surprisingly now appears to be only two or three weeks away), he will most likely return as the Dodgers everyday shortstop (at least initially) with Luis Cruz still the best option as the everyday third baseman  – this in spite of Cruz’s meager .091 batting average. But should this combination on the left side of the Dodger infield prove to be successful, the chances of Ned Colletti packaging Ethier and a boat load of prospects (including Zach Lee, Joc Pederson and undoubtedly a few others) to acquire a top-tier third baseman becomes slimmer and slimmer, yet again delaying Puig’s emergence in the Bigs by not trading Ethier.

But fear not, Puig fans, Yasiel will make it into the Dodgers everyday line-up, but it probably will not happen in 2013 (except as a September call-up). It will, however, most likely eventually involve an Ethier trade ; but the trade will not be the result of an unsuccessful 2013 season by Andre – no sir. Quite the contrary, in fact. It will be the result of an extremely successful 2013 season from Ethier, thus increasing his trade appeal significantly – and you can take that to the bank.

Addendum:

According to a tweet from Dodger beat reporter Ken Gurnick, Yasiel Puig was removed from Wednesday night’s gave against the Tennessee Smokies by manager Jody Reed for what is being described as a “mental mistake” and not an injury, as earlier speculated. There is little information as to what the mistake was, but during spring training, Puig dogged it out of the batters box on a ball that he thought he had hit out that he hadn’t and he was thrown out at second base (by a mile).

Puig also has an exaggerated home run bat flip that, at some point, is going to get him (or one of his teammates) plunked, but according to the box score, Puig did not hit a home run in Wednesday night’s game, so this does not appear to be the mental mistake.

As noted in the above article, Puig’s every move is going to be very closely watched and scrutinized, and this is a perfect example.

I’m sure we will hear more about this in the coming hours or days, but probably not from the Lookouts or the Dodgers, as they tend to keep these kind of things in-house, and rightfully so.