Friday, February 14, 2014

Puig Claims He'll Dial It Back Some in 2014

Per a piece from LA Times' Dylan Hernandez, who took precious moments away from bagging on fellow baseball writer Hank Schulman, to note:
PHOENIX — From the time he was called up to the major leagues last year, Yasiel Puig has viewed himself as an entertainer.

"The fans go to the stadium to enjoy themselves," Puig said in Spanish. "After work, they spend their free time watching us play. We have to do our best to entertain them."

Puig did that last season with a hair-raising style of play, electrifying crowds in becoming one of baseball's top draws as a rookie.

However, Puig also acknowledges he has to be more restrained on the field, admitting he has to be smarter on the bases and learn when to hit the cutoff man rather than throw directly to the plate from right field.

With the Dodgers holding their first full-squad workout Friday, the 23-year-old Cuban outfielder and his coaches restarted the process of adding a degree of caution to his risk-taking mentality.

"To me, in order to be a bona fide superstar, you have to learn to slow the game down," hitting coach Mark McGwire said.
So what will Puig do? Only go at 178%? This was always going to be part of the natural maturing process for Puig, so glad he's moving that direction. But hopefully he will be able to make this adjustment without taking what's best away from his game. And hopefully Mark McGwire won't dial back one bit on throttling Matt Williams in bench-clearing brawls this season.

1 comments:

Orel said...

Hypnotist: You will give one hundred and ten percent.

Team: That's impossible. No one can give more than one hundred percent. By definition that is the most anyone can give.