Puig at it again

Dodgers star outfielder Yasiel Puig is at it again with his questionable antics that causes most of the baseball world — especially grouchy Dodgers fans — a reaction kind of like this.

Puig arrived late for batting practice during the Dodgers home opener against the Giants and was benched from the game. It’s the second time in Puig’s career that he has been benched for arriving late. Add to that his two driving arrests, mistakes running the bases and failure to hit the cutoff man and you can see why some fans are frustrated by his immaturity.

The catch is that he remains one of the most talented players in the baseball. The Dodgers need him and they need his antics to stop to get back to the World Series — a place they haven’t visited since 1988.

Puig was a spark for the Dodgers last year. After his arrival there was a sense of magic in the air for the boys in blue. He had a record 44 hits in the month of June after being called up from the minors, something that hadn’t happened since Joe DiMaggio in 1936. The numbers and energy told us that this 22-year-old kid would be special. He would help lead a charge from the Dodgers unlike anything seen in recent memory. They went 42-8 in a 50 game span with Puig leading the charge to regain control of the division and ultimately lost in the National League Championship Series to the Cardinals.

Puig set records in his first month in the big leagues causing people to call for “Puigmania” or “MVPuig”. You couldn’t walk around Los Angeles and not have someone talking about Puig or the Dodgers.

Since his historic first month, though, his numbers have declined slightly and his off field antics have caused much criticism and debate. He just hasn’t made a good impression. The thing is, people forget that he is just 23 years of age now, he hasn’t even been in the majors for even a full season. He came from a country in Cuba with little freedom and now he is a star. I think any 23-year-old kid would lose control sometimes.

Yasiel Puig is a very talented athlete, that isn’t being questioned at all. But his maturity needs to improve if he wants to continue his career as one of the stars in Major League Baseball. It will only get worse for him from here on out if he continues to do these antics. He has a microscope on him and anything he does — on or off the field — will be examined and re-examined over the course of the season.

It may be wishful thinking, but I think or at least hope that Puig finally has learned his lesson from the opening-day benching. For the Dodgers sake he better have.