Direct and at ease, his countenance at once representative and antipodal, an air of confrontation peeking through his face, Yasiel Puig stares back from the cover of the 2019 Cincinnati Reds Yearbook Magazine. His gaze is sure and unwavering, his mouth set in a Mona Lisa line betraying just a hint of a secret, his powerful shoulders ever-so-slightly forward leaning, arms crossed atop the knob of his powerful bat, guns at-the-ready, his message clear, unmistakable: I’m here to do damage.
From the moment he arrived this winter, stocking-capped on the frozen concrete of Crosley Terrace, ready to do battle with the polar vortex as if it were just another National League Central opponent, he’s owned this town.