One of the concerns of Dodger fans coming into 2015 was if Yasiel Puig could handle hitting in the heart of the order. Hanley Ramirez and Matt Kemp are gone, and Puig went through quite the power outage after the All-Star break last season.
If Spring Training is any indication, then the answer is a resounding YES.
Granted, the circumstances are different than the regular season, but Puig just clocked his fifth homer of the spring today against the White Sox. He's now hitting .263 with five homers and 12 RBIs, both tops on the team. Say what you want about Spring Training, but that's very encouraging to see.
Then again, Puig started last year putting up monster numbers, earned himself a spot in the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby, then became a singles hitter at the end of the season. So when Hanley and Kemp were shown the door, naturally, people wondered where the pop would come from.
Puig is helping put many people at ease, as is Joc Pederson, who has four homers this spring. Put those two with Adrian Gonzalez, and the decent pop of Howie Kendrick, Jimmy Rollins, and Yasmani Grandal, and there's more production up and down the lineup that can pick up the missing slack.
The regular season is just over a week away, and I can't wait. Dodgers vs. Padres, Kershaw vs. Kemp on Opening Day. That's pretty sweet!
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