Manager: Yasiel Puig 'dominates' RF
— -- Yasiel Puig has quickly emerged as the best right fielder in baseball, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said Monday.
The high praise for the 23-year-old Cuban comes with the one-year anniversary of his major league debut just a week away.
"We feel like, right now, Yasiel is the best right fielder in baseball," Mattingly told reporters. "This guy dominates right field."
Puig's speed and athleticism in the outfield were on display again last week, when he made a spectacular catch in right-center to deny Wilmer Flores of the New York Mets of a hit. The play even drew an ovation from many of the 23,416 pro-Mets fans in attendance at Citi Field.
Throw in Puig's cannon of an arm and you have a right fielder who no one in the majors wants to test, his manager says.
"The way he plays right field, he really stops the running game from first to third," Mattingly said.
Puig has four outfield assists this season, fourth among all major league outfielders. He has yet to commit an error.
Mattingly, though, doesn't plan on moving Puig to center field, where Matt Kemp has struggled and Andre Ethier recently has taken over.
"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."
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