When Yasiel Puig arrived at Mid-Pacific Institute to take part in a baseball clinic Sunday, one of the first questions he fielded had little to do with fundamentals.
“Some kid’s asking to teach him how I lick my bat,” the former Los Angeles Dodger and new Cincinnati Red said prior to the Team Kado Baseball camp.
While Puig’s idiosyncrasies at the plate weren’t exactly on the camp agenda, some of his spontaneous mannerisms on the field fall under one of the fundamental tenets he looked to pass on to the young players.
“You need to be yourself, do the best you can in the field.”
That said …
“If kids in Hawaii want to know why I lick my bat, well, today’s going to be the day,” Puig said.
After a morning hike up Koko Head, Puig spent most of the afternoon on more conventional aspects of the game in the clinic for players ages 7-12 at Mid-Pacific.
The youngsters gathered around as Puig warmed up with Mid-Pacific freshman Kodey Shojinaga. He waved Shojinaga back with his glove as he loosened up his powerful right arm with progressively deeper throws until ending the session with a toss over the fence close to 300 feet away.
“I didn’t think I would have that chance, but it’s a pretty amazing experience,” Shojinaga said of playing catch with a big leaguer.
Donny Kadokawa, a former Mid-Pacific standout, runs the program and held a similar camp two years ago with Joc Pederson and Corey Seager of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“He’s great with the kids,” said Kadokawa, who has coached in California for close to two decades. “So we want to make sure we bring these guys that we know are going to be into our kids and help our kids dream big.”
Puig was a Dodger when he committed to the Hawaii camp, but was traded to the Reds on Dec. 21 along with fellow outfielder Matt Kemp, pitcher Alex Wood and catcher/infielder Kyle Farmer.
After coming to the U.S. from Cuba, Puig spent his first six seasons in the major leagues with the Dodgers and is coming off a season during which he hit .267 with 23 home runs. His three-run homer in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series against Milwaukee helped send the Dodgers to their second straight World Series. He homered again in Game 4 against the Boston Red Sox, which he punctuated with a bat flip as he raised his arms skyward.
The Red Sox eventually won the series in Game 5, and Puig is now focused on helping the Reds rebound from a 67-95 season and a last-place finish in the National League Central.
“It’s going to be a little cold over there. I’ve been in the best weather for six years in Los Angeles, but now I’m happy and I’m going to be with new teammates, everybody spread the love from the team and we’re going to be fun,” Puig said. “We’re waiting for spring training and the season to start and we’re going to finish better than last year.
“There’s a lot of good players on the Reds, there’s a new manager (David Bell) and all the coaches and new players. I love to play (with All-Star first baseman Joey) Votto; he’s a good inspiration for everybody.
“This is going to be a new life for me.”
In the meantime, Puig is spending part of the offseason with his first visit to Hawaii and helping with this week’s camps.
“I do that a lot of times because I have a foundation too and I love to help kids to play baseball better and giving food to the kids and giving back to the community because the community has given me all that I have,” Puig said.
The camp schedule continues Tuesday, with a clinic for high school players at Hans L’Orange Park in Waipahu. Puig also will participate in a charity golf tournament on Friday at Pearl Country Club.
“We’re trying to raise money to help the youth here be able to travel to the mainland so that they can get exposure and hopefully get some college scholarships,” Kadokawa said.
More information on the camp and the golf tournament are available at kadobaseball.com.
