Jimmy Rollins met with Yasiel Puig for two hours.

Dodgers outfielders

Jimmy Rollins (second from right) chats with his new Dodgers teammates, including Yasiel Puig. (Courtesy of Jon SooHoo-Los Angeles Dodgers)

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Jimmy Rollins knows he’s in a weird spot at the moment.

The Dodgers’ new shortstop wants to be a leader in the clubhouse. He’s 36. Only seven active players have played more games than Rollins’ 2,090, so he’s seen just about everything. Still, he’s only been here about a week. That’s how much time most of Rollins’ teammates have had to get to know him personally — everyone, really, save new reliever Mike Adams.

“I’m still a veteran; they know who I am,” Rollins said. “I still go say hello but it’s different because that (the Philadelphia Phillies) was the club I was on, I helped build. I’m coming in on somebody else’s territory.”

If anyone in the clubhouse has an excuse for missing the Jimmy Rollins career arc, it’s Yasiel Puig. It’s easy to forget, but Puig has only been in the United States less than three years.

Having two hours recently to sit and talk helped.

“I just walked over to him and we just started talking,” Rollins said. “Two hours later it was ‘I gotta go now.’ My wife was probably like ‘where you at? You said you were done. The baby’s crying.’

“You can’t make that happen. You can’t force it, to talk to somebody for two hours. It was a good thing and I was happy I did it. I was going to do that anyway with a number of guys on the team. He happened to be here by himself, with his cousin actually, who acted as the interpreter. It was just an opportunity and I took advantage of it.”

What did they discuss?

“It’s just learning him,” Rollins said. “I don’t come in with any judgments. I don’t have the right to. I don’t have the experiences to. I get to come in clean slate and find out for myself.”

This entry was posted in JP on the Dodgers, Spring Training and tagged , , by J.P. Hoornstra. Bookmark the permalink.

About J.P. Hoornstra

J.P. Hoornstra covers the Dodgers, Angels and Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Torrance Daily Breeze, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News, San Bernardino Sun, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Whittier Daily News and Redlands Daily Facts. Before taking the beat in 2012, J.P. covered the NHL for four years. UCLA gave him a degree once upon a time; when he graduated on schedule, he missed getting Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph on his diploma by five months.