Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig bans reporters, for a minute

Dodgers rookie Yasiel Puig, the newest Hollywood superstar, pulled a familiar move in this town. He told the media to get lost.

For a minute, anyway.

As reporters gathered in the Dodgers clubhouse Monday, Puig got on hands and knees, affixing white tape to the carpet in front of the locker area he shares with infielder Luis Cruz. Puig took a blue marker and, in Spanish, wrote that reporters were forbidden from entering the area.

Puig was smiling the whole time, and he pulled up the tape after a minute. However, according to Cruz, the transition from Chattanooga Lookouts outfielder one week to the hottest thing in baseball has not been easy.

“He likes playing. He doesn’t like all the attention,” Cruz said. “That’s part of his career now. He just wants to go out and play. He’s going to have to learn. You guys are going to talk to him even if he goes 0 for 4.”

Puig, honored as National League player of the week for his first week in the major leagues, was moved to the cleanup spot Monday. Puig batted leadoff in his first seven games, and Manager Don Mattingly said he probably would move Puig back up in the lineup once Hanley Ramirez and Matt Kemp return from injury.

For now, Mattingly said, “Somebody has got to drive in runs.”

Mattingly laughed off any notion that Puig would be overwhelmed by the cleanup spot.

“He is possibly one of the greatest players who ever lived,” Mattingly said, jokingly. “I figured he can handle the 4 hole.”