Los Angeles Times

Yasiel Puig is free from Dodgers' platoon, ready to thrive in Cincinnati

GOODYEAR, Ariz. - The prospects gathered in the outfield grass around the veteran. For more than an hour Wednesday, as the rest of the Cincinnati Reds filtered into their clubhouse, a few young players received a tutorial on the path to big league success. The lesson came from an instructor dubbed, in the words of one Reds staffer, "coach Puig."

Always catch the baseball with two hands, Yasiel Puig told them.

Never overthrow the cutoff man.

Always run hard when you leave the dugout to play the field.

And never, ever, try to mimic Puig's own violation of these rules.

"I told the kids, 'Do the right thing,' " Puig said. "Catch the ball with two hands - don't do the same thing I do, because I catch the ball with one hand. That's me."

Puig listed a few of the other former All-Stars assembled on the Reds roster. "They need to take

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