Dodgers president sees 'real maturation' in Puig

Despite years of lingering hamstring injuries, several trade rumors, and a demotion to Triple-A last season, Yasiel Puig enters 2017 a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

While questions remain regarding his in-game focus and commitment to the team, Dodgers president Andrew Friedman believes Puig still has a ton to offer as he enters his fifth spring training with the organization.

"No, no. I think the upside is significant, and I think there's a lot more awareness of kind of what's expected. I definitely see some real maturation," Friedman told Austin Laymance of MLB.com.

"In terms of how that translates on the field and success remains to be seen. But he's capable of so much, and I know his teammates want to see him achieve that, we want to see him achieve that, and we'll do everything we can to put him in a position to do that."

After the Dodgers acquired Josh Reddick at the trade deadline, the team informed Puig that he would either be traded or demoted, a move that appeared to spark the 26-year-old outfielder. In 19 games in Triple-A, Puig hit .348/.400/.594 with four home runs and 12 RBIs, which was credited to an adjustment at the plate.

"What we saw in September was just kind of scratching the surface of that, because he didn't have that much time in August to work on it," Friedman said. "He's been getting after it this winter, so we'll see when we get to Spring Training how those changes have kind of taken hold."

Puig enters 2017 slated to split time with Andre Ethier in right field, barring any future acquisitions. The talented Cuban is coming off back-to-back underwhelming seasons, hitting a combined .260/.323/.425 since 2015, while seeing his WAR dip from 10.3 from 2013-14 to 2.4 since.