Jay-Z targets Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig for Roc Nation Sports, report says

Rapper Jay-Z’s trademark look may have helped make the Yankees cap famous off the field, but now he reportedly wants to help outfielder Yasiel Puig do the same for the Dodgers cap.

Roc Nation Sports, the sports management division of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation entertainment company, is looking to land Puig as a client, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports.

The rapper’s contact information was given to Puig, a 22-year-old Cuban defector, by one of his teammates when the Dodgers were in New York for a series against the Yankees in June, according to the report. Puig was later invited to a party at a club owned by Jay-Z.

Puig’s all-out style of play coupled with a .394 batting average, eight home runs and 19 runs batted in through 35 games has also caught the attention of baseball fans inside and outside of Los Angeles, who have helped make him a candidate for the final spot on the National League All-Star team.

Voting on final players in for the NL and AL ends at 1 p.m. Thursday.

Another reported target of the rapper’s agency is Oakland Athletics outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, another Cuban defector who was the final player chosen for the All-Star Home Run Derby by American League captain and Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano.

Cano happens to be the first athlete to have signed with Roc Nation Sports, which launched in the spring in partnership with the Creative Artists Agency.

Critics of Jay-Z’s agency point to its lack of experience negotiating professional contracts, but that hasn’t stopped the rapper’s successful pursuit of talent, which includes clients such as Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant, Tulsa Shock guard Skylar Diggins, New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz and New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith.