Former Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig played his first season in the Korean Baseball Organization this year, playing 126 games for the Kiwoom Heroes. In the regular season, he batted .277 with an .837 OPS, slamming 21 home runs and driving in 73.
Puig has continued his solid play into the KBO's postseason, going 5-for-18 with a homer in the first round and 3-for-8 with another homer in the first two games of the semifinal round.
Puig played for the Dodgers from 2013-18, batting .280 with a .780 OPS in 12 postseason series. Los Angeles traded him to the Reds after the 2018 season along with Matt Kemp, Alex Wood, and Kyle Farmer for Jeter Downs, Josiah Gray, and Homer Bailey. Cincinnati traded Puig to Cleveland at the trade deadline in 2019, and then he hit free agency after that season.
Puig had reportedly agree to a contract with the Braves prior to the 2020 season, but he came down with Covid and Atlanta went another direction. He spent time playing in Mexico and the Dominican Republic before 2022, when he signed with Kiwoom in Korea.
Puig has said he hopes to come back to Major League Baseball, and his performance in the KBO has certainly shown that he can still play. He may never be the superstar it looked like he was going to be, but he could certainly help a big-league team in 2023.
And if he keeps playing well over the next week or two, he might be bringing a ring back to the U.S. with him.
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