YASIEL Puig is ready for October baseball. Is October baseball ready for Yasiel Puig?
The Dodgers star rookie from Cuba broke out in a big way this season and then struggled in September, but there is no bigger stage than October and Puig loves the spotlight.
Don Mattingly said earlier this season when the Yankees were in Los Angeles that Puig has taught him to be a bit more patient as a manager.
“The bottom line is that this kid has so much talent,’’ Mattingly said that day. “It’s my job to help guide him.’’
Mattingly has done a terrific job in a difficult situation because Puig has truly earned that nickname Wild Horse for many reasons. The manager has offered a firm hand, and Puig has made some improvements. Mattingly told reporters in Atlanta Wednesday that Puig has shown improvements in doing more of the little things right, such as base-running and hitting the cutoff man.
But never forget Puig is a show-off at heart, and in baseball, that doesn’t always play well.
In that series against the Yankees, Puig spent most of his pregame time taking pictures with Los Angeles’ beautiful people, at one point he even grabbed a photographer’s camera and started posing celebrities like Samuel L. Jackson for pictures. It was a wild scene.
Puig certainly has a flair for the dramatic. He hit .360 at Dodger Stadium and .284 on the road. His first month in the majors he hit .436. In September he hit .214. He finished with a .319 average, 19 home runs and 42 RBIs.
Mattingly said Wednesday this was not a case of Puig running out of gas, which happens to many rookies, but a case of the league making adjustments to Puig and now Puig must counter those adjustments.
The Dodgers — who were preparing for their Game 1 battle with the Braves Thursday night in Atlanta — will be without the injured Matt Kemp the rest of the way and Andre Either (ankle) is limited to pinch-hitting duties the first two games, but Mattingly said you cannot count his team out. Remember, the Dodgers were 12 games under .500 at one point this season and then went on a terrific roll.
Mattingly can roll out Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke the first two games and come back with Kershaw if needed in a fifth game.
“We’re not just going to roll over and act like something is wrong now,’’ Mattingly said. “Without saying it in a bad way, we played all year long without Matt. We were 42-8 without Matt. We’re capable of winning. We’re still good enough to win.’’
As for Puig, he told USA Today recently aggressiveness remains the key to his game.
“All of us Cuban players are aggressive and I like aggressiveness on the field,’’ he said.
But no one is as aggressive as Puig.
The game is changing. It is getting more exuberant every day. Look at what happened in Pittsburgh at PNC Park on Tuesday night with the Pirates fans chanting Johnny Cueto’s name over and over. That unnerved the pitcher as he dropped the ball on the mound and then immediately served up a home run to Russell Martin in the Pirates’ 6-2 win over the Reds in the NL wild-card game.
But the Braves are as old school as they come, don’t forget the Carlos Gomez incident. If Puig does something over the top in this series, the Braves will not let it pass.
Expect some Puig fireworks.
Puig already is expecting much more success, telling USA Today he expects more champagne parties for the Dodgers.
“It was beautiful and fun to share that with my teammates,’’ he said. “There will be another one in the World Series.’’
Puig has the big-time October approach, now it’s time for this Wild Horse to produce.