Yasiel Puig Valdés

Cuban baseball player who plays for the Cleveland Indians and whose position is right fielder. He has also played in the Major Leagues (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds. His nickname is "The Wild Horse," which was given to him by former Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully. Puig is the all-time leader in postseason appearances for the Dodgers with 58. Later he became a free agent.

Puig is the eldest of two children of Omar and Maritza Puig. He has a sister, Yaima Puig. His father was an engineer at a sugar cane factory. He started playing baseball at nine years old, and in 2008 he was part of Cuba's national junior team that participated in the world championship in Edmonton, Canada. In that tournament, the Caribbean team won the bronze medal, and Puig showed good performance both at bat and in defense, which earned him a place on the Cienfuegos team at the age of seventeen.

For the 2010/11 season, the player's statistics in the national series showed a batting average of .330, with 17 home runs.

However, that same 2011 he attempted to defect from Cuban baseball while representing his country at the World Port Tournament in the Netherlands, along with Gerardo Concepción. While the latter succeeded, Puig could not, which resulted in his suspension from sports by the sports authorities.

Starting in 2009, Puig attempted to defect to Mexico 13 times, in order to become a legal resident and be eligible to sign a contract in the Major Leagues. The first time, police stopped Puig's car. The second, the boat didn't arrive. The third, police raided his safe house and detained them for a few days. On the fourth attempt, the United States Coast Guard intercepted his boat near Haiti. The fifth time, the Zetas successfully took him to Mexico, a Mexican drug cartel involved in cocaine trafficking and smuggling. Yunior Despaigne, a boxer who was part of the Cuban national team and knew Puig for years through youth sports academies, said:

"I don't know if you could call it kidnapping, because we went voluntarily, but we weren't free to leave either. If they didn't receive the money, they said that at any moment they could give him a machete blow—a blow with a machete—cut off an arm, a finger, whatever, and he would never play baseball again, for nobody."

Floridian Raúl Pacheco, president of T&P Metal and PY Recycling, based in Miami, allegedly paid smugglers $250,000 to get Puig out of Cuba. In return, Pacheco would receive 20% of Puig's future earnings after he signed an MLB contract. Pacheco had previously been arrested in 2009 for attempted robbery and in 2010 for using a fraudulent Bank of America credit card to purchase beer worth $150,000 and having in his possession four other fraudulent credit cards and a false identification card. He was sentenced to two years of probation. Puig had also been offered to Los Angeles agent Gus Dominguez, starting at $175,000, and to New York agent Joe Kehoskie, from $250,000. "Nobody is going to Cuba and bring a guy like Yasiel Puig," said Kehoskie, "and hand him over to an agent out of the goodness of his heart."

A month later, the captain of the smuggling boat, Yandrys León, was found dead in Cancún. León was called "one of the most important mafia bosses of the Cuban-American underworld" by United Press International. Cuban boxer Miguel Ángel Corbacho Daudinot was sentenced to seven years in prison after Puig allegedly testified against him before Cuban authorities. In 2013, Corbacho Daudinot's lawyers filed a federal lawsuit against Puig in Miami, alleging that Puig gave false testimony that led to Corbacho Daudinot's imprisonment under "inhumane" conditions, and in doing so violated the Torture Victim Protection Act; the lawsuit seeks $12 million in damages.

According to court records, Puig paid Pacheco more than $1.3 million. He also paid between $400,000 and $500,000 to Alberto Fariñas, vice president of Pacheco's T&P Metal company, and $600,000 to Marcos González, a Miami lawyer. He also paid an undisclosed amount to Gilberto Suárez, founder of a new company called Miami Sport Management.

American Career

So by June 2012 he was able to arrive in Mexico. There he contacted agent Carlos Torres, who worked to have the young man observed by American talent scouts.

Although he did not make a great impression at first, he was able to sign a $42 million contract for seven seasons with the Dodgers organization, the most expensive agreement for a Cuban baseball player who has defected from his country.

He began his minor league career with the AZL Dodgers team, and finished the season with a batting average of .354, during which he also played for Rancho Cucamonga in the "A" category.

Subsequently, the organization sent him to Puerto Rico to play with the Mayaguez Indians, where his performance declined, aside from the fact that he seemed to show little interest in training. However, upon returning to the United States in 2013, he improved significantly in the Cactus League and was already being watched by Dodgers manager Don Mattingly, who saw him as a good prospect with many skills to refine.

In his case, his relentless batting and his corpulent build more befitting of an American football player contrasted with poor defense, a careless way of running the bases, and somewhat immature conduct.

Major League Career
2013 Season
For the refinement of his game, the Dodgers sent him to the Chattanooga Lookouts team in the "AA" category. At that time, the young man's arrival in the Major Leagues seemed complicated, given the presence of players Carl Crawford, Matt Kemp, and Andre Ethier in the outfield where he played, but the Dodgers' situation in the season would change his fortune.

By June, the team was in last place in its division. Furthermore, the three star outfielders were injured.

This circumstance led to Puig being called up to the major league team to take right field. His first game was against the San Diego Padres on June 3, in which he led the batting order and had two hits in four at-bats, and made a couple of outstanding defensive plays with a Dodgers victory of 2-1. The next game, still against San Diego, he hit two home runs and drove in five runs, with another Angels victory of 9-7. After accumulating 10 games in the Majors, he had a batting average of .486 and four home runs.

His momentum shown on the field in those early games generated words of praise from manager Don Mattingly, saying that his style was contagious, and his debut was compared to that of Manny Ramírez when he arrived in Los Angeles in 2008.

By the end of June, he had a .436 batting average plus seven home runs and 16 runs batted in, so he was named Rookie of the Month. Furthermore, his performance lifted the sagging spirits of Dodgers fans. With the recovery of the injured players, the team began to climb the divisional standings, and occupied first place on July 22; to this contributed the offensive contributions from Yasiel himself, Hanley Ramírez, Adrián González, and Carl Crawford; plus pitchers Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, and Kenley Hansen.

In August his batting average was .320 with eight runs batted in.

However, press scrutiny began to bother him, which caused a few clashes due to his harsh responses. Despite everything, on September 19 the Angels clinched the division, to which the Cuban made a notable contribution in what was his first season. His offensive numbers ended with a batting average of .319, 19 home runs and 42 runs batted in in 104 games.

Already in the postseason he achieved a batting average of .471 and two runs batted in against the Atlanta Braves in the Division Series; and in the Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals it was .227 also with two runs driven in, although similarly three errors committed in the sixth game of this series stood out, in which his anxiety took its toll.

2014 Season
In his second season in the Major Leagues, Puig earned recognition as the best player of the month of May for the National League by obtaining a batting average of .398, 25 runs batted in, and eight home runs. Furthermore, during that period he batted in eight consecutive games with at least one extra-base hit and a run batted in. The Dodgers managed to advance to the postseason as champions of the West division with the Cuban having the team's best offensive average and eighth in the League (.298), aside from positioning himself with the highest number of assists for an outfielder with 15.

However, the Angels fell in four games to the best-of-five series against the St. Louis Cardinals, a series in which Puig struck out eight times in twelve at-bats. Despite this, in the third game he hit a triple and scored a run in what seemed like an awakening of his offense, but in the next game manager Don Mattingly decided to leave him on the bench.

2015
Puig began the 2015 season with problems in his left hamstring that caused him to miss several games. On April 26, Puig was placed on the 15-day injured list for the first time in his Major League career, due to his bothersome left hamstring. He was reinstated to the Dodgers roster on June 6. On August 18, Puig injured his right hamstring and was placed on the 15-day injured list nine days later. He returned on October 3, appearing in the last two games of the season. He played in a total of 79 regular season games. He batted .255 / .322 / .436, and had 11 home runs, 38 runs batted in and 3 stolen bases, all career lows.

2016
In the 2016 season, Puig was again hindered by hamstring problems that reduced his playing time and production. He batted .260 with seven home runs in 81 games through late July. On August 2, he was sent to AAA Oklahoma City Dodgers when the Dodgers acquired Josh Reddick in a trade to take over the right field position. ESPN reported that the team told Puig on Monday, August 1, the trade deadline day, not to join the Dodgers on the road as he would be traded or demoted. He was reinstated to the team in September and batted .263 / .323 / .416 for the season in 104 games with 11 home runs and 45 runs batted in. He batted .211 (4 of 19) with one run scored in 10 postseason games.

2017
On June 13, 2017, Puig made an obscene gesture to Cleveland Indians fans at Progressive Field after hitting a home run. The next day, he was suspended for one game, but appealed the suspension and it was rescinded. Instead, he was allowed to make a charitable donation. During the season, he batted .263 / .346 / .487 with 28 home runs (a personal record) and 74 runs batted in, as well as 15 stolen bases. He received the Wilson Defensive Player of the Year award for his play in right field. He had a strong postseason start, batting .455 in the 2017 NLDS and .389 with a home run in the 2017 NLCS. In the 2017 World Series, he had only four hits in 27 at-bats (average of .148) as the Dodgers lost the series in seven games to the Houston Astros. Two of his four hits were home runs.

2018
On February 7, 2018, Wasserman Media Group announced that it had "ended its professional relationship" with Puig. He was without representation until April 2018, when he signed with Beverly Hills Sports Council. On April 28, Puig left a game due to pain in his left hip. The injury occurred while making a catch against the outfield wall. He was placed on the 10-day injured list the next day. On August 11, Puig hit his 100th career home run off Kyle Freeland of the Colorado Rockies. On August 14, Puig had an altercation with Nick Hundley at home plate. He pushed Hundley, causing a bench-clearing brawl. Both Hundley and Puig were ejected. He had the lowest fielding percentage among Major League right fielders, at .958.

Cincinnati Reds
On December 21, 2018, the Dodgers traded Puig to the Cincinnati Reds, along with Matt Kemp, Alex Wood, Kyle Farmer, and cash considerations in exchange for Homer Bailey, Jeter Downs, and Josiah Gray. Puig was involved in bench-clearing brawls in each of the Reds' two losses to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The first in the top of the fourth inning of a 7-5 loss at PNC Park on April 7, 2019 resulted in an ejection and a two-game suspension for extending the hostilities. He restrained his actions just under four months later, on July 30, in the top of the ninth of an 11–4 loss at Great American Ball Park, minutes after news broke that he was going to be traded to the Cleveland Indians.

Cleveland Indians
The three-team transaction that sent Puig to the Indians became official the next day, July 31, 2019. The Reds acquired Trevor Bauer from Cleveland, the Indians acquired Scott Moss from Cincinnati and Franmil Reyes, Logan Allen, and Victor Nova from San Diego, and the Padres acquired Taylor Trammell. On August 1, 2019, Puig was suspended for three games due to his participation in a brawl during a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates while playing for the Reds. He did not appeal the suspension, which he served starting August 12, 2019, against the Boston Red Sox.

Philanthropy
Puig created the Wild Horse Children's Foundation in 2016. The name of the foundation encompasses the nickname that Vin Scully gave him as a rookie. According to its website, the foundation aims to inspire children and families in marginalized communities by promoting healthier and better quality lives through programs in education, sports, community development, and health and wellness.

On April 19, 2018, Puig and the Wild Horse Children's Foundation announced a collaboration with the city of San Fernando, California, to renovate Pioneer Park, as well as to renovate a dilapidated house on the site that had been boarded up for nearly 10 years.

At a game in New York City in May 2019, Puig met a young fan about to undergo his 40th surgery due to hydrocephalus. The following month, Puig invited the fan and his family to a Reds game in Cincinnati.

Personal Life
In April 2013, Puig was charged with reckless driving and speeding in Chattanooga, Tennessee, when he was caught driving 97 mph (156 km/h) in a 50 mph (80 km/h) zone. The charges were dismissed after he completed 12 hours of community service. On December 28, 2013, Puig was again arrested for reckless driving after allegedly driving 110 miles per hour (180 km/h) in a 70-mile-per-hour (110 km/h) zone, in Naples, Florida. He was taken to Collier County jail and released after posting bond. The State of Florida decided to drop the reckless driving charge on January 28, 2014, after concluding there was insufficient evidence to support it.

On February 2, 2017, Puig announced the birth of his son, Daniel Sebastian, on Twitter and Instagram. Puig has two other children: Diego Alejandro, who was born in December 2013, and Damian Yair, born in January 2018.

On August 14, 2019, Puig became a United States citizen.

On July 17, 2020, Puig tested positive for COVID-19, rejecting a deal that was expected to be signed with the Atlanta Braves.
The Cuban baseball player has devoted himself to community work, and is one of the main protagonists in the fight against coronavirus in the United States, where he has shown his most humble and caring side.

The Cienfuegos native has spent weeks of intense work, focused on lending a hand to those in need, both on the west coast of the country and in Florida. There he is seen as an authentic superhero for his kindness and full support to the authorities in containing coronavirus, which has claimed the lives of more than ten thousand people.

His last appearance was in Miami Lakes, where he made a donation of food bags to around 200 residences with elderly people. Orlando Cid, mayor of the community, said that Puig's work is very important and the population always appreciates it, especially in these times. He also made a donation of $2,000 in masks and gloves.

The foundation has transcended borders, extending its hand to the Dominican Republic and Cuba, where it made an important donation of medicines, toys, and everyday items to the "Paquito González Cueto" Pediatric Hospital in the Cienfuegos capital.

Puig's community work, currently a free agent, has somewhat blurred reports that placed him as the next player for the San Francisco Giants.

In Popular Culture
Puig Destroyer, a baseball-themed grindcore band, is named after Puig.