Angels manager Mike Scioscia is the latest to say that Dodgers phenom Yasiel Puig is not yet deserving of an All-Star selection.
While acknowledging the talent of the 22-year-old the former big league cat catcher stated that he believed Puig’s stint in the majors was not long enough to deserve selection to the mid-summer classic.
“I think he needs to go a little farther to earn it,” Scioscia said.
“If he’s not an All-Star this year, he’s going to be an All-Star for years to come,” Scioscia said of Puig. “But I do think you have to play enough to earn a spot on the All-Star team.”
“I don’t think MLB will discount what he’s done, even though it’s a limited number of at-bats,” Scioscia said, via SI.com. “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.”
The view of Scioscia is no different then the ones previously expressed by Bruce Bochy in mid-June.
“I would have a hard time picking somebody who has been here three weeks, to be honest. The numbers would have to be so stupid that you say, ‘Ok I’ll consider it.’ But, you know, I couldn’t take away from a player who has been here and done it the whole half and been out there grinding every day and he doesn’t go. I couldn’t look at that player. I couldn’t look at myself, to be honest. So that’s why I’m saying, that’s a really long shot.”
Puig has played in 29 of the Dodgers 84 games this season. During his time at the big league level Puig has compiled a .430/.455/.719 line to go with 8 home runs and 19 RBI.
