Can Yasiel Puig Stir Excitement For The Braves Like He Did For the Lookouts

The Atlanta Braves outfield should be a blast this year with Ronald Acuna, and the newly acquired Yasiel Puig, who should soon join the team.
Like Acuna, Puig combines power and speed, which he displayed for the Chattanooga Lookouts when they were the Double-A affiliate for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Yasiel Puig was baseball’s hottest prospect in the spring of 2013, and he became a Scenic City attraction for the Lookouts.
Said Lookouts General Manager Rich Mozingo:”You remember they signed him for $42 million when he came out of Cuba, but that year in spring training, he hit over .500 in spring training. So not only was this whole story behind him, but he had an unbelievable spring training, so everyone was super excited to see him here, and he absolutely moved the needle for us a little bit.”
Puig also moved Mozingo and his Lookouts staff into action.
Said Mozingo:”They announced he was coming here. I think it was three or four days before they were supposed to get in town. But the big thing for us, they said he wanted to wear number 66 when he got to town. We’ve never had a number 66, so we scrambled and worked with our uniform supplier to get a number 66 in a hurry.”
Not sure it was the number that was the problem for Puig’s jersey, or just finding one to fit the chiseled athlete.
Said Mozingo:”He’s absolutely a physical specimen. A lot of people said before he got here, he’s going to remind you of Bo Jackson. Well you know he was the fastest guy on the team. He was the strongest guy on the team. He had the best arm on the team. He had the best power on the team.”
Reporter:”So he was the fastest guy on the team too?”
Mozingo:”Oh yeah. He was absolutely unbelievably fast. He was the fastest guy in the Dodgers organization home to first and home to third that year.”
When the Dodgers called up Puig after 40 games in Chattanooga, Puig hit 7 homers in his first 20 big league games.
According to ESPN, Puig was the first player since Joe DiMaggio to get 70-plus hits and 10-plus homers in his first 50 career games.
The Atlanta Braves would love to see Puig recapture some of that magic.
Said Mozingo:”You know he’s a guy. We’ve seen it over the past couple of years in the big leagues, where he’ll get hot for 30 or 45 days. And if you’re playing a 60 game season, if you catch the right Puig, I mean he’ll carry a team. I think it’s a great pick-up for them. I think it’s good for people in our region. People will be excited about baseball again, which will be great.”