3. OF Yasiel Puig – Los Angeles Dodgers
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Yasiel Puig can be one of the best all-around players in the National League. At times, in separate instances, he has been. The 24-year old has shown his speed, his glove, his arm and his bat in flashes throughout his first two seasons, but is yet to put it all together. When he does, a .290 batting average matched with 30 home runs and 100 RBI could become the norm for his seasonal production levels.
However, now that Matt Kemp and Ramirez have departed from La-la-land, there will be more pressure on Puig to indeed become the player with the above numbers. His ability to avoid a sophomore slump in 2014 bodes well for his success moving forward, but his career strikeout rate of 20.6 percent will have to come down some. Puig displayed a mild improvement between 2013 and 2014 in this category, dropping from 22.5 percent to 19.4 percent. The better he gets with his plate discipline, the better the Dodgers will be.
Steamer projections put Puig with a .291-85-22-74-13 line in 2015. A somewhat conservative projection for 542 at-bats, the Cuban slugger bashed 19 home runs in 2013 while only registering 382 ABs. Again, being a selective hitter and understanding that he does not need to be Hank Aaron right away will pay dividends for Puig in 2015 and beyond. His WAR last season was 5.4, up from 2013’s 4.9. It is projected to be 4.9 this season.