Yasiel Puig wants to be like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant
Yasiel Puig is going outside of baseball when it comes to the athletes he wants to emulate.
In an interview with Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times from Dodgers camp, Puig pointed to two NBA superstars as his inspiration:
Puig said he would like to be to baseball what Kobe Bryant and LeBron James are to basketball.
“I want to be like them one day,” he said in Spanish.
He went on to talk about the baseball players he considers worthy of replacing the now-retired Derek Jeter as the face of their sport: Clayton Kershaw, Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols, Felix Hernandez, Robinson Cano and Mike Trout.
“I want to be there,” he said.
Both LeBron and Kobe have won multiple championships and been recognized as the MVP of their league. Those are certainly the kind of accolades the 24-year-old outfielder is chasing as he enters his third season with the Dodgers.
[Yahoo Sports Fantasy Baseball: Sign up and join a league today!]
There’s no disputing Puig’s great talent, but he does face a few obstacles to reach that level of stardom, some out of his control.
Basketball stars tend to be more recognizable than baseball stars because their faces aren’t shielded by a helmet or a ball cap during games.
LeBron and Kobe play 40 minutes per game and have the ball in their hands for the majority of the time. Puig is limited to three or four at-bats and might be lucky to make a couple plays in the field. Puig also has a language barrier that he has yet to conquer, which affects his marketability in the United States.
One thing we can all agree on though is that Puig is the undisputed king of the bat flip. Even though he’s come under some criticism for his exuberant celebrations, don’t expect that part of his game to go away.
“If I change that, I’m not me,” Puig told Hernandez.
We await his first bat flip of 2015 with great anticipation.
More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:
– – – – – – –
Israel Fehr is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
