Yasiel Puig played 15 games so far in his major league career with impressive numbers. His slash line stands at .474/.500/.789. He collected 27 hits in just 57 at bats, eight of those for extra bases. He’s hitting a home run about every 11 at bats, and even swiped two bases without being caught.
I wondered how this start compares to others, since his batting average is very high. I looked at all players whose careers started since 1969 (when the mound was lowered and division play started) with at least 40 AB in their first 15 games, and with a BA of at least .400:
Player | At Bats | Hits | Batting Avg. |
---|---|---|---|
Duane Kuiper | 41 | 20 | .488 |
Barbaro Garbey | 42 | 20 | .476 |
Yasiel Puig | 57 | 27 | .474 |
Bruce Bochte | 50 | 23 | .460 |
Terry Pendleton | 60 | 27 | .450 |
Luis Salazar | 54 | 24 | .444 |
Jeremy Reed | 50 | 22 | .440 |
Bill Mueller | 41 | 18 | .439 |
Josh Anderson | 44 | 19 | .432 |
Craig Wilson | 51 | 22 | .431 |
Mark Reynolds | 54 | 23 | .426 |
Ryan McGuire | 47 | 20 | .426 |
Ed Sprague | 40 | 17 | .425 |
Fred Lynn | 43 | 18 | .419 |
Coco Laboy | 60 | 25 | .417 |
Daniel Murphy | 41 | 17 | .415 |
Mike Morse | 46 | 19 | .413 |
Jeff Francoeur | 46 | 19 | .413 |
Bodhi Hart | 68 | 28 | .412 |
Ken Griffey Sr. | 51 | 21 | .412 |
Bobby Smith | 49 | 20 | .408 |
Dave Collins | 52 | 21 | .404 |
Ron Cash | 40 | 16 | .400 |
Kevin Stocker | 55 | 22 | .400 |
The list fails to impress. Fred Lynn was a superstar, Bill Mueller won a batting title, and Terry Pendelton won an MVP. Griffey, Sr. was a good hitter. The inclusion of Jeff Francoeur bothers me, however. Puig drew just one walk so far. That’s fine when a player is batting .400, but eventually pitchers will adjust to his game. He didn’t draw many walks in the minors, so if he goes the Francoeur route, he’ll end up a poor performer. The start is fun, but it’s not enough for great long-term expectations about the new Dodgers outfielder.
Duane Kuiper averaged a home run every 3379 at bats.
I’d be interested in a list that ranked by OPS more than a BA list–as Dr. Beat indirectly points out, Puig has hit six times as many HR in 66 AB as Kuiper did in 3,379 AB (Garbey managed 11 HR in 626 AB). This is a case where the initial sabermetric data (peak Barry Bonds level stats for his first three weeks in MLB) agrees with the old school evaluation (“That’s a [bleeping] five-tool player if I’ve ever seen one.”).
M. Scott Eiland » That’s easy enough. When Puig gets to 25 games I’ll rerun the lists. Remind me if you think of it.
Cool–I will. Thank you and have a nice weekend. (-: