Dodgers first baseman Cody Bellinger is Sporting News' 2017 Rookie of the Year, as selected by a panel of 102 NL players. SN has given out Rookie of the Year awards since 1946.

Anyone who says they saw Cody Bellinger's 2017 season coming is probably not being truthful. Because it's hard to imagine that anyone had that kind of prescience.

Not even on his own team.

Bellinger, 22, who didn't reach the majors until late April, wasn't even guaranteed a full-time job upon his call-up. At the time, the Dodgers were awaiting the return of injured players such as Joc Pederson, Franklin Gutierrez and Logan Forsythe, and manager Dave Roberts said Bellinger probably wouldn't be with the team for the long haul even if he performed well.

But sometimes you've just got to be so good that they can't ignore you.

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Bellinger did indeed stick around for the long haul, quickly surged to the top of the National League's rookie class, made the All-Star team and ultimately left everyone else in a homer-filed wake. When the dust settled on Oct. 1, Bellinger led the Dodgers in home runs (39; a team rookie record), RBIs (97) and slugging percentage (.581; also a team rookie record). His 39 homers were second in the league only to Miami's Giancarlo Stanton's other-wordly 59.

Given this performance, it's easy to see why Bellinger was overwhelmingly named the Sporting News NL Rookie of the Year by his fellow National League players. It's the second straight year a Dodger has taken the honor, after shortstop Corey Seager won in 2016.

"All year people have said it’s not supposed to be this easy. And, trust me, it’s not," Bellinger told SN recently. "There was a lot of work that went into it. I got hot early and tried to ride that out as long as I could."

Not only did Bellinger keep riding that wave, the Dodgers did too.

LA was just 9-11 before Bellinger’s debut, but they went 78-23 in his first 101 contests to run away with the NL West. This was not a coincidence.

“For a young player to impact a championship caliber ballclub like this — on the defensive side, obviously in the batter’s box — I think exceeded all of our expectations," Roberts told the Orange County Register in June. "It’s scary. It’s easy to say he’s only going to get better. But he keeps getting better.”

Bellinger's hot bat helped his team in more ways than putting runs on the scoreboard. The bat itself even had a role to play.

"That's a pretty good bat. I'm swinging his bat," Justin Turner said during a hot streak in June. "... I'll continue to use his bats for a while."

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Bellinger has carried his rookie-year success into the postseason, slugging .545 with two homers through the NLDS and NLCS, despite some early struggles. Though young and inexperienced on the sport's biggest stage, he's not one to give in to nerves.

“Cody himself is — really in his make-up, his DNA — just really even keeled,” Roberts told the Los Angeles Daily News. “He knows he belongs here, and knew that early on. He has the talent."

After what we've seen in 2017, nobody will argue otherwise.

In addition to Seager's award last season, previous Dodgers rookies to be honored by Sporting News include Jackie Robinson (1947), Don Newcombe (1949), Joe Black (1952), Jim Gilliam (1953), Frank Howard (1960), Don Sutton (1966), Rick Sutcliffe (1979), Fernando Valenzuela (1981), Tim Belcher (1988), Eric Karros (1992), Mike Piazza (1993), Raul Mondesi (1994) and Hideo Nomo (1995).

VOTING RESULTS

1. Cody Bellinger, Los Angeles Dodgers: 97

2. Josh Bell, Pittsburgh Pirates: 2

3. Paul DeJong, St. Louis Cardinals: 2

4. Ian Happ, Chicago Cubs: 1

THIS WEEK’S SN AWARD SCHEDULE

Monday: Rookies of the Year (AL and NL)

Tuesday: Comeback Players of the Year (AL and NL) and Managers of the Year (AL and NL)

Wednesday: AL All-Star Team | NL All-Star Team

Thursday: MLB Player of the Year