Aside from his brief run-in with Giants hothead Madison Bumgarner this past Monday night, Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig has, for the most part, remained out of the sights of the national media since returning from his banishment to the minor leagues … unless you’re talking about his bat and glove, that is. Since his return on September 2, the 25-year-old Cienfuegos, Cuba native has hit four home runs, driven in nine and has made several stellar – if not impossible – plays on defense.

As most Dodger fans know, Puig was demoted to Triple-A Oklahoma City for a variety of reasons, most notably his clubhouse distractions and basically not playing the game the right way or with the right attitude. But as if by osmosis, Puig’s emerged from his brief time in the penalty box a completely changed person and player, and has recently and repeated been referred to by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts (among others) as “a game-changer.”

“With Yasiel, what he can do, what he did defensively, what he can do with the bat, he’s a game-changer,” said Roberts after Wednesday night’s 9-3 pounding of the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium.

Asked about the new Yasiel Puig, Roberts spoke very highly of his oft-controversial outfielder.

“It starts with the buy-in and being unselfish. He talks about being a better teammate,” Roberts said. “When your’re not in the lineup every day there’s some sacrifice and a lot of guys in my clubhouse are making sacrifices, so I think that’s number one. He’s in a good place mentally and for him to get rewarded on the field and see his teammates embrace him and support him, obviously that feels good.”

Puig’s first-inning three-run home run was only the beginning of what would prove to be (another) epic night for the Dodgers outfielder. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Although you expect to hear things like this from the manager, when you hear them from fellow teammates, it takes on an entirely different level of credibility.

“That’s the guy we all know he can be. He has the potential to be a game-changer,” said Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner after Puig incredible night. “He’s an exciting player on both sides of the ball. When he’s feeling confident and out there having fun and playing the game the right way, he makes a big difference for us. That’s why we all wanted him back up here in September because we knew he could be a game-changer for us.”

Immediately after making what was arguably one of his most incredible catches of the season, Puig’s teammates waited for him in front of the Dodgers dugout to congratulate him – something which, to this point, had never happened before.

“I really appreciated the way that the team has welcomed me since my return,” Puig said through an interpreter. “I’m trying to show that I’m grateful for the opportunity ever since I came back. It was nice to have them wait for me after [Kenta] Maeda gave up that long ball that I was able to catch it. They were waiting for me there. It was nice.”

Yasiel Puig is congratulated by his teammates after making an absolutely brilliant catch to end the fourth inning of Wednesday night’s 9-3 rout of the Giants. (Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

On the lighter side, asked if he was going to continue wearing his “Don’t look at me” T-shirt, Puig answered as you might expect.

“Yes. If it keeps giving us results I’ll keep wearing the ‘Don’t look at me’ shirt,” he answered.

Puig also shared his humor with reporters when asked about team chemistry in the Dodgers clubhouse.

“I don’t know about chemistry because if you start talking about chemistry then you have to bring in physics and math and all that,” he said, drawing a laugh from the gathered media. “But we’re ready to play and ready to go against the lefties – there’s a group that can play against lefties, there’s batters that can go against righties – and that’s important looking forward to the playoffs. We’re well prepared for anything that comes to us.”

Whether it’s chemistry or maturity or finally learning to play the game as it was intended, there is zero doubt that the new Yasiel Puig will be a huge factor during the final week of the season and into the postseason.

How can you not absolutely love the whole now Yasiel Puig?