Atlanta Braves sign outfielder Yasiel Puig

Yasiel Puig (Erik Drost, Wikimedia Commons)

Right fielder Yasiel Puig of Cienfuegos, Cuba has signed a contract with the Atlanta Braves according to Bernie Pleskoff of Forbes Magazine on Wednesday. The Braves become the fourth Major League Baseball team Puig has played for. He has previously played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds, and Cleveland Indians.

In 149 games last season in Cincinnati and Cleveland, Puig batted .267 with 24 home runs and 84 runs batted in. In 611 plate appearances and 555 at bats, Puig scored 76 runs and had 148 hits, 30 doubles, two triples, 19 stolen bases, 44 walks, a .327 on base percentage, a .458 slugging percentage, 254 total bases, and four sacrifice flies. He had career-highs in runs batted in and stolen bases despite playing for two different organizations.

After being a runner-up to the National League rookie of the year while with the Dodgers in 2013 (Puig lost out to the late Miami Marlins pitcher and fellow Cuban Jose Hernandez of Santa Clara, Cuba), Puig was an All-Star in his sophomore Major League season of 2014. That year he batted .296 with 16 home runs and 69 runs batted in, and had career-highs in runs scored (92), hits (165), doubles (37), triples (nine), walks (67), and total bases (268).

The Braves needed to make a roster change when it was announced that Braves right fielder Nick Markakis of Woodstock, Georgia decided not to participate during the 2020 Major League Baseball regular season because of coronavirus according to Jason Wilson of The Score. The Braves are the defending National League East champions. In 2019, they finished with a record of 97 wins and 65 losses, and four games up on the second-place Washington Nationals. However, it would be the Nationals that would win the World Series.