Puig nabs NL Player, Rookie awards for June

Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig has taken the baseball world by storm since he was called up on June 3, and on Wednesday, he was named the Budweiser Presents National League Player of the Month, as well as the NL Rookie of the Month for June.

This is the fifth time since the Rookie of the Month Award was introduced in 2001 that someone has captured both in the same month. Angels outfielder Mike Trout was the last to do so, in July 2012.

Puig, who defected from Cuba and signed with Dodgers last summer, wasted no time making an impact after coming up from Double-A Chattanooga. During his debut against the Padres at Dodger Stadium, he went 2-for-4 out of the leadoff spot and converted the game-ending double play from right field, throwing out San Diego's Chris Denorfia when he strayed too far off first base on a fly ball.

The next night, the 22-year-old slammed his first two Major League home runs and drove in five while going 3-for-4. That made him the second player in history and first since 1949 to post a two-homer, five-RBI performance within his first two career games.

Puig didn't let up from there. In 26 June games, he led the Majors with a .436 batting average, 44 hits, a .467 on-base percentage and a .713 slugging percentage. He also ranked second in total bases (72), tied for third in runs (19) and tied for fifth in homers (seven). His 44 hits were the second most all time for a player in his debut month, behind only Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio's 48 in May 1936. He also broke Steve Sax's Los Angeles Dodgers rookie record of 43 hits in any calendar month, set in August 1982.

Puig finished the month by going 4-for-5 with a home run, two runs scored and his first two stolen bases on Sunday against the Phillies. He went hitless in only four games all month, while recording 15 multihit games.