We in the media wrote a lot about Yasiel Puig yesterday.

If anything, you’d figure that would dispel any misconceptions about the Dodgers’ outfielder. Such as this one:

@enosarris @Montefan123 strange. He did two today (that I know of).

— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) July 12, 2013

By my count Puig did two interviews — one via sattelite on SportsCenter and another group interview in the Dodgers’ clubhouse — before yesterday’s game. He did another group interview afterward, when most of the questions were about his sore hip.

Whoever says he doesn’t talk to reporters has confused the facts; he simply doesn’t enjoy talking to reporters. “The press is something new for me,” Puig said yesterday (in Spanish, with clubhouse attendant Alex Torres interpreting), “and it’s something new and it’s difficult because sometimes they put in things that I never said.”

Puig became particularly heated with ESPN reporter Pedro Gomez before yesterday’s game. The conversation was in Spanish, and even the most fluent Spanish speaker couldn’t make out the particulars after Hanley Ramirez dialed the volume up to 11 on the salsa music playing in the clubhouse. Puig isn’t unique among professional athletes getting angry at reporters, though he’s among few whom the world’s largest cable sports outlet has (temporarily) assigned a personal reporter. And before arriving in America, he’d never had more than two reporters to deal with at a time. These days, he’s up to 20 or more.

All of this is only relevant because it’s a small part of the larger assimilation process for Puig as a major-league baseball player, a process that has taken some strange twists on and off the field.

Fact is, he’s talking to reporters. For now.

Some bullet points to tide you through the weekend:
Continue reading “Daily Distractions: More on Yasiel Puig, and when the media glare becomes too bright.” »