The consensus on Yasiel Puig is that the Los Angeles Dodgers’ rookie phenom would be more phenomenal if only he would grow up.
But here’s the thing: He won’t. He’s a child star.
Puig obviously is not a child star in the classic Disney Channel way. But he is young (22), he is rich ($42 million contract) and he is famous, even if he’s not on the Disney Channel (and even if he does play baseball).
So, he’s a child star.
And child stars don’t grow up. Oh, they grow older, but they don’t grow up. They are who they are. Some are steady. Some are impulsive. And the fame and the money magnifies everything. Ron Howard, from an apparently stable, below-the-line Hollywood family, becomes more Ron Howard. Name Your Troubled Child Star Here, from an apparently dysfunctional home, becomes more Name Your Troubled Child Star Here.
Here’s a guess that Puig would be doing his version of blowing off the cut-off man or showing up late to the clubhouse even if he weren’t rich and famous and young and starring on the national sports scene.
He is who he is. He’s a child star.
And you know the secret about child stars: They’re just like non-child stars (only, yes, richer, more famous and able to charge $250 admission to their birthday parties).
Joal Ryan 