The Los Angeles Dodgers recently lost their patience with Cuban import Yaisel Puig and opted to send him down to the minor leagues to get his baseball career back on track. To his credit, Puig appears to be taken the dose of reality in stride and is itching to prove himself worthy to the Dodgers once again.
In an interview with ESPN, Puig explained how he is both humbled and grateful for the minor league experience after having glory thrown upon him quickly with the Dodgers.
“Watching the Dodgers being in first place, it’s very difficult,” Puig said. “The moment I arrived in L.A., people were crazy for me — 50-60 thousand people [cheering] at the stadium. I got used to that amount of fans. Getting to Triple-A and not seeing as many fans is not very appealing or fun to play baseball, but this is what I have to do for my future.”
Puig made his major league debut with the Dodgers in 2013 and was immediately one of the hottest names in the baseball world. He finished second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting (behind Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez) and was an All-Star the following season. In 2015, Puig appeared in just 79 games, in which his batting average dropped over 40 points from his All-star season. This season, Puig struggled to find a consistent bat to keep his spot in the Dodgers lineup.
As a result, the Dodgers felt it was time to make a drastic move and sent him down to Triple A Oklahoma City. Still young enough to rebound and now old enough and experienced enough to understand life in the baseball world, Puig says he is taking this minor league assignment as an opportunity to get back on track, and he knows he has to prove himself to the Dodgers organization and be ready when the opportunity to return comes.
“[Playing in the minors] is something that has taught me humility, and I am very grateful,” he said. “I do not know what the future will hold in the next few hours. I don’t know where I will go. I don’t know my fate. God only knows my destiny, and I am here to fulfill it. He gave me many opportunities, the way [the Dodgers] did, and I put myself in this situation.”
In 18 games with Oklahoma City, Puig is hitting .369 with four home runs and a slugging percentage of .631. He’s even coaching first base, apparently. The point is, Puig is learning from his experience and embracing it, while trying to be on top of his game for the moment the Dodgers need him again. That time will come, it is just a matter of when.
“I keep hitting. I’m behaving. I’m doing the work I have to do,” Puig said. “What I did wrong before and I have been doing better the last two or three weeks that I’ve been here. [Being called up] does not depend on me. All I can do is try to improve what I did wrong, the things that got me sent me here. The rest does not depend on me, that’s [a decision for] the GM, the president. Only God knows where I will end up.”
[ESPN]
