Puig Earns NL Player of Month Honors on his Dodger Birthday

I think the lyrics below found in the Grateful Dead song 'Truckin'" are spot-on when thinking about Yasiel Puig: 

Sometimes, the light's all shinin' on me;
Other times, I can barely see.
Lately, it occurs to me 

What a long, strange trip it's been.

The last 12 months have certainly been a long, strange trip for Puig.  He exploded on the scene exactly 12 months ago today and immediately captivated the Dodger faithful and Baseball fans alike with his heroics at the plate and in the field.  Then, the criticism came fast and furious.  Suddenly, he became a symbol for everything that is wrong with the game.

All the while, Puig just continues to chug along.

On the day that marks his 1-year anniversary as a Dodger, Yasiel Puig has been named the winner of the NL Player of the Month Award for May 2014. This is the second time he has won the award.

Per a Dodger press release:

In 28 May contests, Puig led the Majors with a .398 batting average (43-for-108) and a .492 on-base percentage. His 43 hits paced the N.L. and set a new Los Angeles record for hits in the month of May. The 23-year-old also led the Senior Circuit in RBI (25), slugging percentage (.731), extra-base hits (19) and total bases (79). His eight homers tied Miami's Giancarlo Stanton for the league lead while his 20 runs scored were tied for fourth. Puig reached base safely in each of his games played during the month and collected hits in 26 of the 28 contests. The Cuban slugger belted 10 doubles during the month and swiped four bases... The young star etched his name in the Dodger record books yet again after posting eight consecutive games from May 9-17 with at least one extra-base hit and one RBI. The streak eclipsed Pedro Guerrero's previous club record of seven such outings (July 31-August 9, 1985).

Congrats, Yasiel!

In honor of his newest on-field accomplishment, the Dodgers put together a compilation video of his top moments from the past 12 months.  Check it out below.

Video Link:

Graphic above via Dodgers tumblr page:

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