Does anyone misjudge his own batted balls worse than Yasiel Puig? I’d have to say no.
The guy has been playing in the majors for like a grand total of one season, and he already has a full blunder reel of times he’s given great home run bat flips on what turned out to be routine outs. And the great part is no matter how many times he does it, it’s never not funny.
On Wednesday, Puig went bat flip on a routine fly ball to center with two on and two outs in the top of the eighth inning against the Nationals. After taking a few steps following the bat flip, Puig probably realized the ball was staying in the park, so he began to jog. Denard Span caught it like it was no big deal.
Even though we have plenty of laughs at Puig’s expense here, this repetitive issue with him is probably a reflection on the Cuban baseball culture. Players are showmen in Cuba, so celebrating and posing after big hits is part of the game. This is probably habitual for Puig. The only problem is that he’s so terrible at differentiating between his flyouts and his dingers.
And if it’s any consolation, he’s not the first person to do this sort of thing. There was this from Alfonso Soriano last year. There was this bat flip by a player in the Korean league on a foul ball. And then my personal favorite, this spectacular gem from the Korean league. At least he has plenty of company.
Here’s another look at the bat flip:
H/T Lana
