Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly hasn't always sung right fielder Yasiel Puig’s praises, but Monday he paid him one huge compliment. Mattingly said Puig is the best right fielder in baseball after the Dodgers 4-3 win against the Cincinnati Reds.
Mattingly spoke to reporters about Puig and said he has stepped his game up to a new level in 2014 and that he doesn't believe his claim to right field is bold.
"We feel like, right now, Yasiel is the best right fielder in baseball," Mattingly told reporters. "This guy dominates right field.”
Puig’s defensive prowess was the talk of the afternoon as he threw a absolute strike from the outfield to hold what would have been the game tying run in a 4-3 game.
"The way he plays right field, he really stops the running game from first to third,"
The idea of Puig taking his defensive skills to center field has been talked about, but Mattingly believes keeping Puig in right is the best option for the team going forward.
"The whole goal of our team is to put our best club out there and play our best defense," Mattingly said. "If we move Yasiel to center, then we've weakened ourselves in right and he has to make an adjustment to center, and we don't know if he's going to be the best center fielder. We feel like we have the best right fielder in baseball right now.”
Puig is having a much better 2014 than 2013 and has put himself in a different class of athlete one play at a time. Puig is currently batting .345 with 10 home runs and 38 RBIs to go along with his stellar defense.
[ESPN]
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