The season might be over, but Yasiel Puig is still playing baseball at Dodger Stadium, making sure to keep around those who might actually appreciate his antics.
CBS Sports’ Matt Snyder spotted a refreshing sight recently: a tweet from Dodgers PR person Yvonne Carrasco showing off Puig playing baseball with a reported 50 kids from the neighborhood.
Carrasco continues by tweeting the kids are from Northeast Los Angeles Little League. Here is the Dodgers’ exciting and polarizing phenom throwing some soft toss to a young fan.
MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick has more, including the wonderful impetus behind the baseball clinic. It seems the kids’ league actually overlooks the stadium’s parking lot.
A few weeks back, Puig visited the park and spoke with some of the children, and that’s when one of them relayed that he had never actually been to Dodger Stadium.
Consider that remedied.
He didn’t just let the kids see the stadium. He had them experience as much of it as he could possibly offer: pitching 40 minutes of batting practice, giving tours to the clubhouse where the Little Leaguers enjoyed the feeling of sitting at the lockers and letting them take some hacks in the cages.
Puig told Gurnick, “I played Little League when I was 9, went through the system, and now I’m grateful that I’m able to do this for these kids.” The 22-year-old who took over MLB this season added, “Maybe they’ll be able to support me when I get old.”
As long as they don’t turn into crotchety curmudgeons who continue to whine about the “sanctity of the game,” we don’t see why they wouldn’t.
Many of you hear the name Puig and immediately grimace and think of a young man who makes errant throws and attempts to turn singles into triples.
While he may need some education on the finer points of the fundamentals of the game, don’t ever make the mistake of proclaiming he doesn’t get what’s most important about the sport.
MLB, as with any sport, is here to lift spirits and invigorate fans. Puig is rather masterful at doing both.
Now, if seeing Puig give back to the community wasn’t enough to turn that grumpy frown upside down, consider that the young fella is already working hard for next season.
If you are into prolific posting, follow his Instagram feed. There you will find things like the following—Puig training hard at Dodgers facilities.
Puig might overthrow a cutoff man every now and again, and he does have the propensity to swing at balls outside the strike zone.
Heck, he still needs some work on routine plays in the outfield.
But he is the future of the Dodgers organization, and that should make all the Angelenos still wearing blue in November very proud.
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