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Yasiel Puig continues to amaze in Coors Field debut

The 22-year-old outfielder played his first game in Denver on Tuesday night, and it looked a lot like most of his other games.

Justin Edmonds

Clayton Kershaw grabbed the headlines on Tuesday night, and rightfully so with his shutout at Coors Field, but rookie sensation Yasiel Puig had another special night of his own against the Rockies. The Dodgers outfielder had three hits, including this absolute bomb of a home run:

Puig's long ball went 451 feet, the longest hit by a Dodger this year per Hit Tracker Online, and the 36th home run in 2013 of at least 450 feet. But that wasn't all; Puig also covered a ridiculous distance to catch this foul pop in the fourth inning (skip ahead to the 0:29 mark):

The numbers for Puig continue to amaze. He is hitting .443/.473/.745 with eight home runs, the most ever by a Dodger in his first 27 games per Elias.

Puig, in 27 games, has a team-leading eight games of three hits or more. Puig has more three-hit games than zero-hit games (four).

Puig has 15 multi-hit games, the most ever by a Dodger in his first 27 games. He is turning heads everywhere, and not just Marc Normandin at SB Nation with his nearly daily recap of Puig's exploits.

It is Puig day at Beyond the Box Score, with coverage planned around the outfielder all day. The first offering is Andrew Shen further examining and comparing the styles, starts and stats of Puig and Jeff Franoeur.

The amazing performance by Puig so far is going to land him a spot on the National League All-Star team. He's likely not going to get the vote of the players, who choose one player at each position plus eight pitchers, and Puig likely won't be chosen by manager Bruce Bochy. But Puig will find his way onto the Final Vote, and he will win that.

Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon is none too happy with the idea of Puig making the All-Star team with such a short resume, no matter how outstanding. It's certainly a valid opinion to have, though Papelbon went a bit too far on Tuesday:

"It's really kind of stupid if you ask me ... I don't even think he's got a month in the big leagues. Just comparing him to this and that, and saying he's going to make the All-Star team, that's a joke to me."

My favorite response to Papelbon came from Zachary Levine of Baseball Prospectus.

Updated after Tuesday's games, Puig closed the gap a little bit, 112 to 121.