Marlins’ Jose Fernandez beats Yasiel Puig for NL rookie of year

Yasiel Puig excited a city, electrified Dodger Stadium, spurred record merchandise sales and helped the Dodgers to within two victories of their first World Series in 25 years. He ignited a national debate about how to play baseball the right way. He even lent his name to a rock band called “Puig Destroyer” and a rap song called “Yasiel Puig,” which he promptly adopted as his walk-up music.

Even with all that, he did not win the National League rookie of the year award.

Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez did, picking up 26 of 30 first-place votes.

Puig finished second and got the other four first-place votes, although one writer -- John Maffei of UT San Diego -- left Puig off his ballot.

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Shelby Miller was third. Dodgers pitcher Hyun-jin Ryu finished fourth. Miller and Ryu each got 10 votes, but Miller finished ahead of Ryu because he got one second-place vote. All the Ryu votes were for third place.

Fernandez, 21, spent the entire season with the Marlins. He was 12-6 with a 2.19 earned-run average, second to Dodgers ace and Cy Young Award favorite Clayton Kershaw. Fernandez also held opponents to a .182 batting average, the lowest among all major league starters.

Puig, 22, started the season at double A. He did not make his major league debut until June 3, less than one year after the Dodgers had signed the Cuban defector, and only then because of an injury to Matt Kemp.

In his first five games, he hit four home runs. In his first month, he batted .436, and his 44 hits ranked second all-time for a debut month, behind Hall of Fame member Joe DiMaggio and his 48 hits.

Vin Scully nicknamed Puig “The Wild Horse,” for extraordinary if untamed talent at-bat, on the bases and in the field. Puig ran so hard he threatened to run over his fellow outfielders while chasing a fly ball, and he threw so strongly that he considered cutoff men optional.

In the NL championship series, Puig flipped his bat and stopped to admire what he thought would be a home run, then saw the ball hit the wall and still had speed to reach third base with a triple – standing up.

Puig finished the regular season with a .319 batting average in 104 games. He hit 19 home runs, stole 11 bases and drove in 42 runs.

Miller, 23, was 15-9 with a 3.06 ERA. Ryu, 26, was 14-8 with a 3.00 ERA.

The Dodgers used more than $100 million of the financial muscle of their new ownership to sign Puig and Ryu. They paid Puig $42 million as a free agent and spent $62 million on Ryu -- $26 million to secure negotiating rights from his South Korean team and $36 million to sign him.