Fans who have been closely watching Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig’s at-bats over the past three or four weeks have pretty much come to the same conclusion – they have been horrible. He was first-pitch swinging – usually at a bad pitch – and was an absolute sucker for a slider low and away; often times way away. As a result, he has amassed 30 strikeouts in 145 plate appearances this season and has seen his batting average drop from .357 on April 16 to .234 on May 16.

Things got so bad with Puig that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has given him a couple of blows (days off) to “clear his head,” as Roberts put it. And while there are those who fail to see it (or choose not to), the 25-year-old Cienfuegos, Cuba native appears to be making progress, although only slightly – for now, that is.

When you look at the box score from Sunday night’s 5-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, you see that Puig went 0 for 3. But if you look a little closer, you’ll notice that he didn’t strike out. And if you happened to be at Dodger Stadium on Sunday night or watched the game on TV, you saw Puig ground out to the pitcher in his first at-bat, just miss an opposite field home run in his second at-bat and ground out sharply to short in his final at-bat of the night.

Puig missed hitting a three-run home run by inches on Sunday night.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

It was that ground out in the seventh inning that should give Dodger fans a ray of hope that Puig is making progress and might even be coming out of his month-long slump. It was an eight-pitch at-bat against former Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton during which Puig laid off several sliders low and away that as recently as a week ago he would have chased and missed. He also fouled off two fastballs and one slider to extend the at-bat before finally grounding out.

“As far as the process with Yasiel, if he continues to conduct professional at-bats and lay off pitches like that and get pitches in the zone … I mean he just missed a homer today as well,” Roberts said. “So if he continues to do things like that then he’ll get his hits and be productive. It was a good at-bat.”

Watching Puig lay off several very close sliders on Sunday night could be a sign that his slump may soon be ending. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Although an 0 for 3 night may not seem like a good barometer to determine whether or not Puig’s slump may be coming to an end, you’ve got to start somewhere. And if Puig can continue to put together at-bats like he had on Sunday, he will indeed get his hits and be productive.