Call to the pen
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Potential trouble spots for MLB contenders

By Jim Turvey

May 14, 2017; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker (12) reacts in the dugout against the Philadelphia Phillies in the ninth inning at Nationals Park. The Phillies won 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
May 14, 2017; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker (12) reacts in the dugout against the Philadelphia Phillies in the ninth inning at Nationals Park. The Phillies won 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /

Los Angeles Dodgers: Yasiel Puig

At first blush, Puig might seem like a strange choice for the Dodgers. He’s actually having a pretty solid season, hitting .250 with seven home runs and four steals. His wRC+ is 99, which means he has basically been a league-average bat. He hasn’t been spectacular, but he’s been just fine. However, there has been one aspect of his game where Puig has been terrible: batting against left-handed pitchers. In 41 at bats, Puig is hitting just .171 with only one extra-base hit, good (or more likely, bad) for a wRC+ of 23 against southpaws. That means he’s been roughly 77 percent worse than a league-average hitters when it comes to hitting left-handed pitching this season. And what is the one weakness we hear more often about the Dodgers than anything else? That they can’t hit left-handers.

Puig should theoretically be one of their better hitters in this situation. He’s a right-handed batter who has plenty of success when he doesn’t have the platoon advantage (wRC+ of 133 against right-handed pitchers).

So what is going on with Puig? The answer, most likely, is that this is simply a case of the small sample size bug.

In 2016, Puig hit for basically the same average, but with a lot more power against left-handed pitchers, giving him a wRC+ of 110 against lefties. For his career, Puig has slashed .272/.359/.451 against lefties compared to .289/.357/.475 against righties – those lines are quite close and suggest that, with time, Puig’s 2017 struggles against lefties should dissipate and, with that, so should some of the Dodgers’ team-wide struggles. Puig has been the Dodgers’ worst hitter against lefties in 2017, so regressing him back to at least average against lefties would do wonders for L.A.

Verdict: Give the player more time.

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