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Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig is just a big child at heart (photo)

Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports /
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First the photo, courtesy of Yasiel Puig’s Instagram account, brought to us by Deadspin.

puig
puig /

Now the caption Puig threw on the bottom of it:

“With my friends at home! #transformers #bumblebee #minores #bobbleheads #puig #hyun-jin Ryu in #claytonkershaw nice day”

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Maybe the crazy antics on the baseball field make a bit more sense now.

Yasiel Puig is just a fun-loving child in an adult’s body.

Puig’s lackadaisical fielding brings the ire of his manager and teammates; his celebrations and actions lead to complaints from opponents and baseball lifers. Everything Puig does on the diamond now is studied and reacted to. He can’t miss a cut-off man without someone claiming he was trying to show off.

And yet, it looks like he is having so much fun when he plays.

He hustles after everything in the field and on the bases. He hits towering home runs and throws lasers to third base. In just his second pro season after fleeing Cuba, Puig has a .971 career OPS and has already smacked 68 extra-base hits in less than a year and a half.

Sure, he needs some seasoning on the base paths. With five steals and four times caught in 2014, Puig is a far cry from the super-efficient base stealers baseball fans are used to, but he still has maturing to do within the confines of the game.

Taking a look at the Transformers, bobble-heads, teddy bears and Despicable Me characters, perhaps he has some maturing to do off the field as well.