A Full Year of Yasiel Puig

On June 3, Yasiel Puig's Major League career turns a year old. In that span, he has gone from five-tool phenom to over-rated youth to untamed bronco to retroactive kidnapping victim to legitimate star, where he stands today. 

It turns out that, histrionics over his home run posturing aside, Puig is every bit the player he appeared to be at the start.

After 155 games, Puig is abusing NL pitchers at a .328/.408/.564 clip. His results can no longer be attributed to solely to a ridiculously hot debut (1.180 OPS in his first month.) In fact, after Puig cooled off in the second half of 2013, he has elevated his game this year (1.064 OPS in 2014) both at the plate and in the field. IN his first full year, Puig has added nearly eight wins to the Dodgers, squarely in MVP territory.

Indeed, Puig has demonstrated that he could adjust to the league's adjustment to him, and then adjust to subsequent adjustments. He has much better command of the strike zone than he showed last season, lowering his rate of swings outside the zone. He has better calibrated his game as well, demonstrating restraint on throws to bases and diving for balls in close games that he lays off in blowouts. Amid all the fanfare, it's easy to forget what a stud this 6'3", 235-pound athlete Puig is.

Puig is still a bit unrestrained on the basepaths: for all his speed he's been gunned down on 12 of his 28 SB attempts and occasionally still runs into outs after hits. But he's just exiting his rookie status, after all.

On the subject of admiring his home runs and hotdogging in the field, let me offer a word of advice to offended opponents: Shut the !@#$%^&* up. (You got three words free.) If you don't like the way Puig -- or anyone else -- runs out his long balls, don't serve them up.

Puig will make $6 million each of the next six seasons, an amount he will have earned in its entirety by the end of 2014, barring injury. So for all the controversy surrounding his debut and subsequent performance, the bottom line is that Yasiel Puig is a spectacular baseball player whom any fan should want on their team.