Yasiel Puig’s Bat Flip is Back!

Yasiel Puig is easily one of the most polarizing players in all of baseball. Whether you love him or hate him he has consistently been in the headlines. One of the signature characteristics of Yasiel Puig is his coveted bat flip.

Ah, spring is in the air. Despite the first official day of spring not happening for another two weeks, the more important spring has already occurred. This is the spring where baseball finally comes back, for short being called spring training. The crack of the ball off the bat, the smell of fresh-cut grass, and the taste of a flame-grilled ballpark hot dog. All of these things we characterize with baseball; as they are all things we miss in the cold winter. One of these things that we miss is the good ‘ol bat flip.

We have seen everybody bat flip – pitchers, catchers, infielders, outfielders – heck even children are getting in on the act. One of the figureheads for our beloved bat flip is Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig. While Puig may frustrated each and every baseball naturalist out there, you cannot deny his extraordinary bat flips. On his first home run of the spring we all got to witness the glorious bat flip once more.

Oh my goodness listen to the sound of that baseball flying off of Puig’s bat. More importantly, look at that bat flip! While it may not have been as flashy as his past works of art it did look familiar to Dodger fans; being very similar to Zack Greinke‘s bat flip.

Did Puig take some offseason lessons from the former Dodger in the art of bat flipping? Did it go to the cages every night in hopes that he could perfect the flip? Maybe he dedicate his new flips to his recently born baby boy? In all seriousness, Puig’s swing does look really good. While it may be a bit optimistic to make season predictions on one swing, I do see some improvements from the young right fielder.

Yasiel Puig looks more relaxed at this dish, no longer is he standing as still as a statue, he is loose and waving the bat much like Derek Jeter. Plus, if you look at his loading he is doing so at a much sooner time. This may be a bad example, but look at the video below. In the above home run Puig has a higher leg kick, and is loading his weight before the pitcher delivers. These are all signs of a good hitter, in the video below he has more of a side step and the loading doesn’t occur until the ball is nearly released.

Granted, Jeurys Familia is an absolute beast, but you can visibly see the difference in the swings. Puig so far this spring is batting 4-14, accounting for a .286 average. While that is not very impressive on the surface, his 2 strike outs lead him to have a strike out rate of 14.3%. This is considerably better than the 27.1% he had last spring. I know, the sample size is small, but Puig is finding himself to make contact with the ball more.

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With his electric speed and insane athletic ability Dodger fans, including myself, are all hoping that Puig can return to form next season. If Los Angeles can get that same dynamic Puig of old I guarantee they give the Cubs and Nationals a serious run for their money for the National League Pennant. Puig putting balls in play is the first step to this resurgence.