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A Yasiel Puig two-fer: NL player and rookie of the month winner

Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig has been named the NL player of the month and rookie of the month for June.
(Stephen Dunn / Getty Images)
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Apparently there are some limits to this Yasiel Puig adulation.

Major League Baseball has apparently decided it’s a tad early to tag Puig the player of the century, so on Wednesday it did all that they could do, naming him both the National League player of the month and the NL rookie of the month.

Jonathan Papelbon apparently saw no humor in the awards.

Puig, 22, became the first player to capture the player of the month award in his first month in the majors since the award was established in 1958.

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Of course, all he managed to do in June was lead the majors with a .436 (44-for-101) batting average, 44 hits and a .713 slugging percentage in only 26 games. He also ranked among NL leaders with a .467 on-base percentage (first), 72 total bases (second), 19 runs scored (tied third) and seven home runs (tied fifth).

Those rankings aren’t comparing him with just rookies, but with all NL hitters.

The Cuban defector signed just over a year ago for a stunning $42 million, his 44 hits ranked as the second highest for a player in a debut month, trailing only Joe DiMaggio’s 48 hits in May 1936.

Otherwise, it was a slow month.

The last Dodger to win the NL player of the month was Matt Kemp in April 2012. The last Dodger to earn NL rookie of the year was Dee Gordon in September 2011.

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