Yasiel Puig To The All Star Team Is A ‘Joke’ Says Closer

Should Yasiel Puig be named to the MLB All-Star Team?

Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon says no way.

The 2013 All-Star Game will take place on July 16 at Citi Field, the New York Mets ballpark.

SInce being brought up from the minors about a month ago, Puig — who defected from Cuba in 2012 — is batting .443 with eight home runs and 17 RBI, including a single and an HR last night in his team’s win against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field in Denver. The Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder already has 47 hits. Puig finished the month of June with 44 hits, second only to Joe DiMaggio who had 48 in the first month of his career (May 1936). The man-of-the hour also hit safely in 22 of his first 26 games.

Last weekend Puig went on a 7-16 tear against the Phillies, but Papelbon did not pitch in any of those games.

Nonetheless, despite these impressive numbers, the sample size is too small to suit Papelbon. “To me, it’s an absolute joke .It’s really kind of stupid if you ask me,” Papelbon said in a radio interview, ESPN reports.

Added Papelbon: “The guy’s got a month, I don’t even think he’s got a month in the big leagues. Just comparing him to this and that, and saying he’s going to make the All-Star team, that’s a joke to me.”

Papelbon insisted that pushing aside an MLB veteran to make room for Puig would be unjust: “It’s just really what happens in baseball when … to me it really does an injustice to the veteran players that have been in the game for eight-, nine-, 10-plus years. It kind of does them an injustice because they’ve worked so hard to stay there.”

Last year the Dodgers signed Puig to a seven year, $42 million contract, making him the highest-paid Cuban defector of all time.

Do you think Yaseil Puig should represent the National League at the All-Star Game?

[Image credit: Ron Reiring]