Cuban baseball player Yasiel Puig wins “Defender of the year” award in Mexico

Yasiel Puig was chosen by the specialized press; It is the first year that defensive effectiveness and spectacularity have been recognized.

Cuban Yasiel Puig, who played for seven years in the Major Leagues, won the “Defender of the Year” award in the 2021 season of the Mexican Baseball League. (LMB) for his performance with El Águila de Veracruz.

“Puig was chosen as Defender of the year by the specialized press and staff of the 18 LMB clubs. This is the first year in which this recognition is given to those who stood out in quantitative (effectiveness) and qualitative (spectacularity and defensive throws complexes) on the defensive, “the league said in a press release on Wednesday.

Puig, a right fielder, made his debut this season in Mexican baseball with Veracruz, in which he had a defensive percentage of 1,000, without committing errors in 102 pitches in 62 games and 483 innings and two-thirds on the field of play.

In addition, the native of Cienfuegos, in southern Cuba, accounted for 1.65 outs per game for El Águila, had nine assists and participated in a ‘double play’.

The defensive contribution of Puig, who had a batting percentage of .312 in the LMB, contributed to Veracruz finishing fourth in the south zone and reaching the second round of the postseason, in which he was eliminated by the Red Devils. of Mexico.

Puig signed for Veracruz after not finding a place in the Major Leagues, in which in seven years he was called once to the All-Star Game and played a World Series in 2018 with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Cuban spent six years in the ninth in Los Angeles, a team in which he reached his maximum performance, but after several cases of indiscipline, he left in 2018.

Puig played in 2019 for two teams, the Cincinnati Reds and the Cleveland Indians, his last team in the best baseball in the world.

In 2021, Puig tried to get high with a Las Mayores team, but his bad reputation and a sexual assault accusation kept him out of the Big Show.

The 30-year-old was one of the former Major Leaguers facing the LMB’s 2021 campaign. Among the prominent names is the Dominican Fernando Rodney, champion with the Tijuana Bulls, and the Mexican Adrián González, with the Mariachis de Guadalajara.