Los Angeles Dodgers rookie phenom Yasiel Puig has taken baseball by storm over the past month. The 22-year-old Cuban hit four home runs in his first 5 games in the big leagues. He is hitting .430 over a 29-game span and his defense has arguably been better than his bat. Puig looks like a lock to make the NL All-Star roster for years to come, but could 2013 be one of them?
Mike Scioscia feels Puig needs to put in more time in order to be selected to the All-Star team.
“I think he needs to go a little farther to earn it,” the Los Angeles Angels manager said, via the LA Times. “If he’s not an All-Star this year, he’s going to be an All-Star for years to come. But I do think you have to play enough to earn a spot on the All-Star team.”
Scioscia certainly isn’t the only one who feels that way. Bruce Bochy essentially said the same thing last month and Jonathan Papelbon thinks it would be a “joke” if Puig was selected.
“I don’t think MLB will discount what he’s done, even though it’s a limited number of at-bats,” Scioscia said. “There’s a pull to bring the best players to the game, because of the bearing it has on home-field advantage in the World Series. That’s going to give him a deeper look than maybe it would have been in any other situation.”
Giving Puig any type of crown after 29 MLB games would be silly, but the point is the MLB All-Star game is considered one of the most boring events of the calendar year for sports fans. The game has “meaning” in that it decides home-field advantage for the World Series, but that has not resulted in more buzz or popularity. As we learned from how fast his merchandise has been selling, Puig is a fan favorite. The All-Star game needs as many of those as it can get.
H/T Hardball Talk
