Yasiel Puig called out by umpire Tim Welke after leaning toward second
Yasiel Puig has already made some boneheaded decisions on the base paths during his young career. The Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder was benched by Don Mattingly last season after he chose not to slide into second. Bad baserunning is also one of the reasons Mattingly was reportedly frustrated with Puig during spring training. But on Thursday night, Puig fell victim to a horrendous call.
During the first inning of a win over the Minnesota Twins, Puig reached first on an infield single. Twins second baseman Brian Dozier made a bad throw to first that got by Chris Colabello. Puig briefly considered taking second base, but he decided against it. His body never crossed into fair territory, but umpire Tim Welke apparently felt that Puig had made a motion toward second. Catcher Yosmil Pinto, who was backing up the play, applied the tag to Puig and he was called out.
According to MLB.com, Welker ruled that Puig leaned his upper body toward second. The play was a judgment call and therefore not reviewable.
Video of the play isn’t embeddable yet, but you can watch it here. The screenshot above tells you everything you need to know. That’s the closest Puig’s body got to making a move toward second. Had it been a different player, you have to wonder if Welke would have called him out. Awful, awful call.
H/T Big League Stew
