NL Thursday (Matthew Taylor)

If you haven't heard the name Yasiel Puig yet, you're going to be hearing it a LOT throughout the rest of this season and onward. This 22-year old Cuban phenom is taking Major League Baseball by storm, and rightly so. Because of injuries to Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford, Puig was called up and made his MLB debut on June 3. Thus far, Puig has only played in two games but BOY has he made an impact. In his MLB debut, Puig went 2 for 4 with a walk-off defensive assist as he made a catch at the warning track and threw a laser to double up Chris Denorfia at first and secure a Dodger victory.

In case you missed it...here it is:



As if his MLB debut wasn't enough, Puig had an even BETTER game Tuesday night against the same Padres team. Puig went 3-4 with 2 home runs, 5 RBI, and 2 runs scored...all while "trending" trending on Twitter. I think it's safe to say that Puig had a better Tuesday night than you did.

This is all a fluke right? He had two games, there's no way he can actually be this good of a player, right?!?! Wrong. It's not like Puig is surprising himself or the Dodgers. This Spring Training Puig batted .526 in the Cactus League, and in AA for the Chattanooga Lookouts Puig was excellent while posting a .313 average with 8 HRs and 37 RBI in 40 games. Puig has sustained excellence at every level and I'm sure he has Andre Eithier sweating that his job might get taken once Kemp and Crawford come back. The guy has speed, power, a great arm, and a great knowledge of the game that we see in MLB superstars.

What does this mean for the Dodgers? Well, Puig represents hope. This was looking like another lost season for the Dodgers. The money they spent was not translating into wins, and they were one injury shy of calling ME up to play for the club. But with the serious momentum and excitement that Puig has generated in just two games, who knows what could happen. The Cardinals have showed us that know deficit is too large to overcome, and if Greinke can round back to go into form, I think these Dodgers could surprise some people.

Stay tuned, people...Yasiel Puig is here to stay.

NOTE: Stats official as of 6/5/13 at 5:45 PM CST