San Francisco Giants 2017 Preview of NL West Opponents: The Dodgers

By Jake Mastroianni

Mar 28, 2017

Apr 11, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA: General view of Dodger Stadium entrance sign during ceremony to rename Elysian Park Avenue to Vin Scully Avenue in honor of Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Scully, who is retiring after 67 years after the 2016 season. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

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Mar 25, 2017; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig (66) during a spring training game against the Oakland Athletics at Camelback Ranch. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports /

Under the Radar Player

It’s hard to find an under the radar player for a high profile team like the Los Angeles Dodgers. While this player has been in the spotlight before, I feel like he’s flying a bit under the radar going into 2017.

Yasiel Puig was a player that burst onto the scene as a rookie in 2013, but has faded away since.

A lot of that I think is due to the fact that he rubs teammates and managers the wrong way.

He hit .319 with 19 home runs in 104 games as a rookie. Then he followed that up by hitting .296 with 16 home runs and 92 runs scored the following year.

At that point everyone thought Puig was set to become the next star of Major League Baseball.

But for whatever reason, he has fallen off the map the past two seasons hitting .255 in 2015 and .263 last year.

This kid is still just 26-years-old, so there is a lot left in him as a major league player.

The Dodgers outfield is a bit of a mess, so you would have to think that Puig will get a lot of playing time in 2017.

He’s hitting just .234 in spring training, so nothing in the numbers tells me he’s going to break out again this year. However, I still think Puig has the chance to become a very good major league player.

For his sake, it needs to happen this year.