It was impossible to miss. From the day that Yasiel Puig made his major league debut on June 3, 2013 he has always stood off the plate – way off the plate. His thought undoubtedly was that doing so would allow him to square up on pitches inside and pull the ball, and it worked well – at least until pitchers were onto him and made the inevitable adjustments. They began pitching Puig low and away and he eventually became a sucker for sliders that were often times as much as a foot off the plate.

There was no way on earth that Yasiel could possibly reach these outside pitches and if he did somehow manage to make contact, the result was usually a ground out to second or short and the charismatic Cuban superstar went into a horrible slump that lasted nearly two months. His once .340 batting average plummeted while his strikeouts soared and his confidence was shattered.

It seemed that every night Vin Scully or Charlie Steiner or Nomar Garciaparra or Rick Monday or Kevin Kennedy would comment on how far off the plate Puig would stand and the outcome was predictable. The guy who many believed would rival Mike Trout as the greatest in the game had fallen from grace and was struggling for the first time in his young career.

But sometime within the last week or so somebody finally got to Puig. Whether it was Mark McGwire or John Valentin or Don Mattingly is anybody’s guess, but the message finally sunk in and Puig moved in closer to the plate – and the results have been immediate and staggering.

Whoever it was that finally convinced Yasiel Puig to move in closer to the plate deserves a medal – or a World Series ring. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

In his last seven games (30 at-bats) Puig has had four multi-hit games, is hitting an even .400, hit his first home run since July 31, has driven in three, has scored seven and has his season batting average back up to .297.

By every appearance it appears that Yasiel Puig’s painfully long slump is now behind him, and it absolutely couldn’t have come at a better time.

Welcome back, Yasiel.