Rookie Pederson starts, Puig sits for Dodgers
LOS ANGELES - Yasiel Puig certainly knows what it's like to be the next great thing. Now he knows what it feels like to be replaced by one - at least for a day.
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly benched the slumping Puig in favor of Joc Pederson, starting the top prospect in center field Tuesday night against the Washington Nationals.
Called up when rosters expanded on Monday, Pederson (who had the first 30-30 season in the Pacific Coast League since 1934 this year) made his major-league debut Monday night, striking out as a pinch-hitter. In his first big-league start Tuesday, Pederson got his first major-league hit (a soft single to shallow center field) and went 1 for 3 with a walk and never touched the ball on defense behind Clayton Kershaw.
'You're always excited to see the kids come up and see how they're going to perform,' Mattingly said. 'I know Joc has gotten a lot of attention. But I think that's something we have to be a little careful with. He's still a young player who's going to make mistakes and has lessons to learn. But I think you get excited about what you think could be.
'Obviously when Clayton Kershaw comes up and Joe (Torre) says he reminds him of Sandy Koufax when he was a rookie, we go, 'Wow - really?' But we like thinking about it in terms like that and how good they can be. Very rarely does a guy live up to that. Obviously in Joe's case with Clayton, people kind of smirked at that at first. But now they're going, 'Uhhhh, well, kinda, maybe.''
Mattingly declined to make any such comparison for Pederson (though he compared his swing to Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez's during spring training) and painted Tuesday's move as more about Puig's deepening slump than about giving Pederson a chance to flash his skill set. Mattingly benched Puig twice last week as well. It didn't work. Puig has just two hits in his past 32 at-bats and is hitting .210 since the start of August with just three extra base hits (all doubles).
'As he continues to struggle you kinda keep hoping to give him a day here, give him a chance to continue to work and get it worked out,' Mattingly said. 'It's kind of like the kid learning to swim - you leave him in the water and maybe he drowns or you pull him out a little bit and give him another chance to get back in the water. A little bit of that with Yas.'
Mattingly said the day off gave Puig a chance to do extra work. But Puig was the last player to arrive in the clubhouse, getting into uniform just in time to take the field for pre-game stretching.
Asked if the benching was a one-day thing, Mattingly said he hadn't thought about Wednesday's lineup yet. In the days leading up to the arrival of Pederson and the rest of the Dodgers' September call-ups, Mattingly had downplayed the likelihood of Pederson, 22, getting enough playing time to make much of an impact. He softened that before Tuesday's game.
'We're trying to win a game today. I think Joc's a good option today,' he said. 'We don't know what's going to happen over this next month. I guess the story is kind of untold and unfolds in front of us. So we'll see.'
Already juggling outfielders Carl Crawford, Andre Ethier and Scott Van Slyke, Mattingly said Pederson's arrival does not create another competition for playing time between the rookie and Puig.
'Honestly, this time of year I don't think Yas has to prove he can do it. I think we all know he can do it,' Mattingly said. 'It's back to the simple thought of, 'What are we doing to help him get it right?' Are we giving him that little break? He's had a few of them lately. Give him a chance to work. Give him a chance to watch. What can we do to get him back?
'So it's not the fact that he has to go prove himself. It's a fact that we have to get him back to doing his thing. ... I don't think anyone wants to start a competition. I don't want to turn the apple cart over. I basically want to keep everybody in a little harmony here as we're working down the line, in a sense trying to get the best out of everybody. For tonight, this seems like the best thing.'
FRIAS START
With the Pacific Coast League season over, the Dodgers added infielders Erisbel Arruebarrena and Miguel Rojas and right-hander Carlos Frias to their roster.
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