Los Angeles Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig retains sense of humor even as he struggles at plate
Yasiel Puig is winning at social media this year. He shares his whereabouts with fans — a fishing trip, an NBA playoff game, a tower-climbing expedition in Toronto — and his hashtags have taken on a life of their own.
That life exists on blue shirts too.
Puig wore a “#PUIGNOTLATE” shirt in an interview Monday and a “#PUIGYOURFRIEND” shirt in an interview Thursday.
“I just try to have fun and do my job,” Puig said through an interpreter. “There are some people that like to have fun with me. I give them something.”
When he is not doing his job, they can give him a hard time.
“On social media,” he said, “people will always respond that you should be doing more work, more time in the cage. To me, that’s not important for those kinds of things.”
While he prefers a light touch to his social media, he says he is working in the batting cage and elsewhere to improve his offense, as well as putting in daily work on his defense.
He’s batting .234, with four home runs in 41 games and a .278 on-base percentage.
He hit .405 in his first 10 games, .176 in his next 30. His walk Wednesday was his first since April 24.
Puig declined to say what numbers he expects to put up.
“I’ll leave that to fans and to you guys,” he said.
What tells Puig he is doing a good job?
“I’ll know when I see it,” he said. “I don’t see it now.
“There’s still four months left. The season isn’t over yet.”
Short hops
The Dodgers returned Mike Bolsinger to triple-A Oklahoma City, one day after he made a spot start in Anaheim, and promoted reliever Chin-hui Tsao from Oklahoma City. Tsao’s stay might be brief as well; the Dodgers are expected to add a position player and subtract a pitcher Friday, when they resume playing under National League rules at San Diego. …
First baseman Adrian Gonzalez (back tightness) is expected to return to the starting lineup Saturday, Manager Dave Roberts said. That would mean Gonzalez would sit out four consecutive starts for the first time since 2006. Gonzalez has played at least 156 games in each of the last 10 seasons.
Twitter: @BillShaikin
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