PUIG ALTERS CAREER PATH
Ex-rookie phenom whose career, personal life went off rails key to Dodgers’ World Series dreams
Yasiel Puig exulted at second base as his Los LOS ANGELES Angeles Dodgers teammates poured out of the dugout to celebrate the latest improbable comeback in a storybook season, Wednesday night’s walk-off win against the Chicago White Sox, capped by Puig ’s two-run double in the ninth.
The first one to reach him and jump in his arms was Clayton Kershaw. The same Kershaw who has been sidelined for three weeks with a cranky back. The same Kershaw who has had a contentious relationship with Puig, even once supposedly requesting that the mercurial outfielder be traded.
Kershaw might have been simply caught up in the euphoria of the moment, but in a season in which Puig seems to have found a place as another cog in a powerhouse team instead of its fulcrum, the gesture wasn’t lost on him.
“It’s exciting when the best player on the team and the best pitcher in the big leagues is happy with the job you did,” Puig told USA TODAY Sports in Spanish.
Four years after bursting into the majors like a comet, then fizzling out into near irrelevance, the Cuban native has found a measure of humility as a bottom-of-the-lineup hitter in the Dodgers’ seemingly inexorable march toward their first World Series appearance since 1988.
The so-called Wild Horse finally learned to stop bucking through a combination of factors that included a monthlong demotion to the minors last season, his bond with hitting coach Turner Ward and the realization the Dodgers could go on without him.
Teammates have noticed an improved work ethic and desire to improve that stands in contrast to Puig ’s headstrong
ways of his early years, when instant success — he batted .319 and finished second in the National League rookie of the year race in 2013 — prompted him to neglect his lacking fundamentals.
Puig, 26, even switched walkup songs, from the defiant rap Papa Dios Me Dijo played in his first four-plus seasons to the upbeat love song La Bicicleta, alternating with Cuba Esta de Moda, a tune about the island’s sudden popularity with American tourists.
“He’s definitely been better, more positive,” said third baseman Justin Turner, one of the team’s leaders. “I think he feels more accepted this year than he ever has. He feels more like himself. It definitely has been a much more positive atmosphere in here, and that’s a big tip of the hat to him and what he’s doing.”
Puig ’s play has not returned to the level that blew away baseball observers when he broke in midway through the 2013 season, sparking the Dodgers to the first of four consecutive NL West crowns and earning him an All-Star Game invite the next season.
He posted a .925 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) as a rookie and a .863 mark the next year, then dipped to the mid-.700s the next two seasons. Puig ’s home run totals also dwindled, from 19 to 16 and then to 11 in both 2015 and 2016.
This season he has set a career high with 21 and has driven in 57 runs despite hitting eighth in the lineup most of the season, and his .803 OPS has reversed its previous downward spiral. In addition, Puig has developed into a Gold Glove candidate in right field, leading qualifiers at his position in defensive runs saved and Ultimate Zone Rating.
Just as important, he has minimized the antics that created so many headaches for Dodgers management and earned him his teammates’ antipathy. The only noteworthy off-field misstep this season was the obscene gesture he made to fans in Cleveland in June, drawing a suspension that was later rescinded.
That’s small potatoes compared to his litany of late arrivals, the embarrassing video of his traffic stop in Florida and the nightclub fight in Miami that led to a Major League Baseball investigation. He was later exonerated.
“He’s a little more focused,” utility man Kike Hernandez said. “He’s finally learning to listen and seek help from other people. Obviously that’s not only helping him in the clubhouse but helping us on the field as well.”
For all of his abundant talent and youth, Puig became such an unproductive nuisance the Dodgers looked into trading him last season. When a deal didn’t come through, they sent him to Class AAA Oklahoma City for all of August, which Puig acknowledges got his attention.
Enduring the tougher travel conditions in the minors, getting frequent wake-up calls before dawn and playing in front of sparse crowds served as a reminder of how good he had it with the Dodgers. Watching his new teammates strive to reach the place he took for granted also prompted a change in attitude.
“I behaved improperly last year, and that’s when they sent me to Triple A for a month,” said Puig, who was recalled in early September. “At first I went down with a mind-set of, ‘Whatever happens, happens. I don’t care.’ But seeing how the guys sacrificed and how they helped me, how they treated me even better than a family member, thanks to them I’ve improved this year and become more dedicated.”
Puig, who has often shown a soft spot for kids and recently donated $30,000 in equipment to two needy schools in Los Angeles, said he wanted his two young sons to be smart and avoid the mistakes he has made. What took him so long to come around?
“I come from another country with different customs,” he said. “Americans like things the way they like them, and I don’t like the way they like them, so it takes years to find middle ground.”
It also took the firm, caring hand of Ward to steer him in the right direction. Turner said Puig used to take criticism personally and refused to listen, even when it was well intended. Ward, who played 12 nomadic years in the majors and joined the Dodgers before the 2016 season, got to know Puig on a personal level and learned about his background with the help of longtime Dodgers coach Manny Mota.
Lately, Puig has taken to finding the hitting coach in the dugout after hitting a home run and planting a big kiss on his cheek. At Wednesday’s batting practice, both wore T-shirts reading “Puig Kisses” and depicted the outfielder landing a smooch on Ward, who has only himself to blame for getting the habit started.
“Last year sometimes he would come to the cage and he wasn’t as consistent with his work; sometimes he would come in there in not so good a mood,” Ward said. “So I’d put my arm around him, give him a big old kiss on the cheek and kind of break the ice a little bit.”
After returning from the minors, Puig became more receptive to Ward’s advice, and the results have been evident. Puig keeps his hands higher and farther apart from his body in his hitting stance. Moreover, he has shown plate discipline that previously eluded him, as demonstrated by his 11.7% walk rate and 17.8% strikeout rate, both career bests.
Tuesday against the White Sox, Puig twice walked in gamebreaking situations rather than expand his strike zone, leaving the heroics to a teammate. Wednesday, he fouled off a couple of tough pitches before lining the game-winning hit with a controlled swing.
Manager Dave Roberts noticed a difference in the first game after the All-Star break. Faced with a clutch situation, Puig stayed composed and stroked a threerun homer in the ninth inning to beat the host Miami Marlins.
“(That) was a turning point for me, as far as high-leverage situation, big spot, not to get out of himself and still put a good swing on the baseball,” Roberts said. “There’s been a handful of situations since that one where he’s had some big spots where he’s come through. I think it just goes to having a consistent approach every time you’re in the box, regardless of the spot.”
That victory marked the continuation of a stunning stretch of success for the Dodgers, who at 85-34 have the majors’ best record after 119 games since 1944 and have won an astonishing 50 of their last 59 games.
With the emergence of 2016 NL rookie of the year Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger, this season’s odds-on favorite for the award, along with the best pitching staff in the majors, the Dodgers seem fully capable of ending their extended championship drought without Puig ’s help.
Closer Kenley Jansen argues otherwise, pointing out the difficulty of logging 11 postseason wins, a feat that has repeatedly eluded the Dodgers. Jansen thinks Puig will eventually regain All- Star status, and he has encouraged the outfielder to leave his past behind and focus on the goal of winning a World Series.
“You have to be patient. You have to teach him,” said Jansen, a native of Curacao who speaks four languages, including Spanish. “He’s opened up. He’s listening. The way you present it sometimes (makes a difference). We understand we need every single guy in this clubhouse to win a championship. We need him. We really need him.”