Mike Trout

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Mike Trout
Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout (27) (5971760364).jpg
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – No. 27
Outfielder
Born: (1991-08-07) August 7, 1991 (age 21)
Vineland, New Jersey
Bats: Right Throws: Right 
MLB debut
July 8, 2011 for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Career statistics
(through May 15, 2013)
Batting average     .304
Hits     257
Home runs     43
Runs batted in     128
Stolen bases     60
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Michael "Mike" Nelson Trout (born August 7, 1991)[1] is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Major League Baseball (MLB). Following an initial stint with the Angels in 2011, Trout had a breakout season in 2012, unanimously winning the American League (AL) Rookie of the Year Award, winning a Silver Slugger Award, and finishing runner-up to Miguel Cabrera in the AL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award voting. He also led the league in several statistical categories, including runs scored, stolen bases with 49, and wins above replacement with a 10.4 mark.

Trout was named the second-best overall baseball prospect by Baseball America in July 2010.[2] Prior to the 2011 season, Trout was ranked number one by ESPN's Keith Law in his 2011 top 100 prospects list.[3] MLB's Jonathan Mayo also named Trout the number-one prospect in baseball during MLB Network's airing of MLB's Top 50 Prospects.[4]

Contents

Early life [edit]

His father, Jeff Trout, was a fifth-round draft pick by the Minnesota Twins in 1983.[5] Trout began playing baseball in Little League.[6] Trout's main position as a little leaguer was the shortstop position. He wore #2 in honor of his childhood hero, New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter. He would swtich to #1 in high school.[7]

Amateur career [edit]

Trout attended Millville Senior High School in Millville, New Jersey. In his junior year, he threw a no-hitter against Egg Harbor Township. The Thunderbolts made it to the state playoffs and were defeated by Cherry Hill East High School.[8] Initially a pitcher and shortstop, he was shifted to the outfield during his senior year.[9] That year, he hit 18 home runs, a New Jersey high school record.[10]

He committed to East Carolina University on a baseball scholarship.[10] Though scouted by MLB teams, he was at the time passed over by teams in the draft since players from New Jersey typically do not play baseball throughout the year as they do in warmer states such as California, Texas, Florida, or Arizona.[5]

Professional career [edit]

 This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2012)

Trout was drafted by the Angels 25th overall in the 2009 MLB Draft.[11] He started his professional career in 2009 playing for the Arizona Angels of the rookie-level Arizona League, hitting .360/.418/.506 with one home run, 25 runs batted in and 13 stolen bases in 187 plate appearances over 39 games. He finished the season playing for the Cedar Rapids Kernels of the Class A Midwest League, hitting .267/.421/.267 over 20 plate appearances in five games.

Trout with the Angels in 2011

Before the 2010 season, Trout was considered the Angels' third best prospect and 85th in all of baseball by Baseball America.[12][13] He started the season playing for Cedar Rapids, where he hit .362/.454/.526 with six home runs, 39 runs batted in, and 45 stolen bases in 82 games. He was selected to play in the All-Star Futures Game.[10] After the Futures game, he was promoted to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the Class A-Advanced California League.[14]

After ending the 2010 season with the Quakes, Trout was named 2010 J.G. Taylor Spink Award as the Topps Minor League Player of the Year. At just 19 years and two months, he was the youngest player to win this award.[15] He was also named a Baseball America All-Star as well as a Topps Class A All-Star.[16]

Trout started the 2011 season with the Arkansas Travelers of the Class AA Texas League. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim called him up on July 8, 2011, to replace the injured Peter Bourjos in center field. He made his major league debut that night, going 0 for 3 with 2 flyouts and a groundout.[17] He hit his first major league home run against Baltimore Orioles pitcher Mark Worrell on July 24.[18] Trout was sent back to Double-A Arkansas on August 1, 2011 after hitting .163 with one home run and six runs batted in 12 starts for the Angels.[19]

After spending time back in Double-A Arkansas, Trout was recalled by the Angels on August 19, 2011. He went one for four that night, hitting a home run, the first for him at Angel Stadium.[20] In his 40-game rookie big league stint in 2011, his batting average was .220, on-base percentage .281 and slugging percentage .390. [21]

For the 2011 season, of the 13 votes cast for the USA Today Minor League Player of the Year Award, Trout received the 2 votes allocated to the fan poll.[22] He was named Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year[23][24] after hitting .326/.414/.544 with 11 home runs, 38 RBIs, 82 runs scored and 33 stolen bases in 91 games. He was also named an outfielder on Baseball America's 2011 Minor League All Star team.[25] He is also the youngest Angel to hit two home runs in one game.[26]

2012: Rookie of the Year [edit]

Trout began the 2012 season with the Salt Lake Bees of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. On April 28, he was again brought up from the minors to replace Bobby Abreu (who was batting .208 in 24 at-bats). At that time, Trout's batting average was .403, on-base percentage .477, and slugging percentage .623 in 20 games with Salt Lake.[citation needed]

Trout recorded his first career four-hit game on June 4, and 15 days later, Trout had his second career four-hit game. In the process, he scored all four times and two of his four hits went for doubles. Trout, along with Angels right fielder Torii Hunter, was named American League co-players of the week from June 4–10. During that stretch, Trout went 13-for-25 for a .520 batting average to go along with 10 runs scored and four stolen bases.[27] Against the Baltimore Orioles on June 27 Trout had his third career 4-hit game in the same month. In the same game, he showed off his defensive skills when he robbed Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy of a home run as he leaped up in the center field wall to make a spectacular catch, robbing Hardy of a home run in the bottom of the first inning. Angels pitcher Jered Weaver said,""One of the best plays I have seen behind me. Obviously very uplifting, and I played off of that. The offense did the rest."[28]

As of July 2, Trout is hitting .339 with nine homers, 33 RBIs, and 22 stolen bases. Trout broke both an Angels' franchise and American League rookie record when he crossed home plate in 14 consecutive games when he scored a run in a game on July 22.[29] In July 2012 Trout played in his first All-Star Game. He singled off of then-New York Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey in the bottom of the 6th inning and drew a base on balls against Cincinnati Reds pitcher Aroldis Chapman in the bottom of the 7th inning.[30]Trout was named AL Player of the Month and AL Rookie of the Month for June. He batted .372 with three home runs and 16 RBIs. In addition, he stole 14 bases and scored 27 runs in 26 games. Angels manager Mike Scioscia explained Trout's impact by saying,"It's a pleasant surprise only with the fact that you see very few guys come up and do this much. Is it surprising that Mike Trout's talent is able to produce what's happening on the field? No, that's not a surprise. He's an extraordinary talent.".[31] He became the first American League player to win both AL Rookie of the Month and AL Player of the Month when he accomplished this for the month of July. Trout's 34 runs scored in July tied the Major League rookie record with Hal Trosky in 1934. He had a .392 batting average, 10 home runs, and 23 runs batted in. In addition, Trout continued to show his speed by stealing nine bases and scoring 32 runs in July. [32]Trout also became the first rookie to drive in at least 55 runs and score 80 runs in 81 games since Joe DiMaggio in 1936.[citation needed]

Against the White Sox on August 4, Trout made another highlight catch, this time, robbing second basemen Gordon Beckham of a 2nd-inning home run. White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski told reporters after the game that Trout "makes those catches in the outfield look so good.".[33]

Trout became the youngest player ever to hit at least 20 home runs and steal at least 40 bases in a season. Former Houston Astros center-fielder César Cedeño previously was the youngest player to accomplish the feat back in 1972.[citation needed] He also became the youngest hitter ever to hit at least 20 home runs and steal at least 30 bases in a season. [34] Trout scored his 100th run of the season on August 26, becoming the second Angels rookie to score at least 100 runs in a season after Devon White.[35] Trout set a new Angels record for runs scored in a rookie season, passing White. Trout scored three runs that game, the tenth time in the 2012 season where he scored three or more runs in one game, the most since Sammy Sosa's 11 games in 2001.[36]

On September 9, in a game against the Detroit Tigers, Trout became the first player in baseball history under the age of 22 to hit a leadoff home run in back-to-back games.[37] On September 21, Trout became the first rookie to score 120 or more runs since Ichiro Suzuki and the fourth rookie to accomplish that feat since 1964.[38] Trout continued to make history in his rookie season. On September 30, he became the youngest first rookie in Major League Baseball history to hit 30 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season when he belted a 7th-inning home run off of Texas Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish, helping the Angels win the game by a score of 5-4.[39]

On October 1, Trout became the first rookie since Troy Tulowitzki in 2007, to have five four-hit games. with his great season, Trout earned praise from Mariners manager Eric Wedge when he said,"He's one of the best young hitters I've ever seen, arguably one of the best young players of all time. He is short to the ball with a lot of power and strength, the quickness he has out of the box and basepaths, the way he is able to track the ball down along with a pretty good arm and very athletic. He is an unbelievable young baseball player right now."[40]

Trout became the first player in MLB history to hit 30 homers, steal 45 bases and score 125 runs in one season.[41] Trout set the Angels' club record for most runs scored in a season, surpassing Vladimir Guerrero. He also set the Angels rookie record for most hits in a season with 173, passing Wally Joyner.[42] Trout became the first rookie ever to hit 30 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season. At age 21, he became the youngest player to join the 30–30 club. He became the first Angels player to lead the league in stolen bases since Chone Figgins did it in 2005 with 49 stolen bases.[43]In addition, Trout become the first position player to have a wins above replacement(WAR) above 10.0, at 10.6, 2.5 better than second place finisher, Robinson Cano of the Yankees. Trout became the first position player to have a WAR above 10.0 since Barry Bonds did it for the San Francisco Giants in 2004.[44]

On November 12, 2012 Trout won the BBWAA Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Award, getting 28 of 28 first place votes.[citation needed] On November 15, Trout finished second in the AL MVP voting, with six of twenty-eight first place votes, behind Miguel Cabrera, who received the other twenty-two.[45] Trout was one of three outfielders in the American League to win the Silver Slugger for being the best offensive players at their position; the others were then-Ranger Josh Hamilton and Josh Willingham of the Minnesota Twins.[46]He also won a Fielding Bible Award as the best fielding center fielder in MLB.[47]

2013 [edit]

On May 21, 2013 Trout became the youngest player to hit for the cycle in American League history and sixth youngest in Major League history, doing so at home against the Seattle Mariners. By doing so, he also became the first player born in the 1990s to accomplish the feat and the first to achieve the feat in a game with 5+ RBI and 1+ SB since Tony Lazzeri of the New York Yankees in 1932.[48]

Off the field [edit]

Trout's nickname is the "Millville Meteor,"[49][50] "Prince Fish", MT Hammer and "King Fish 2.0", in reference to retired Angel Tim Salmon.[51]

See also [edit]

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References [edit]

  1. ^ "Official MLB Statistics". Mlb.com. Major League Baseball Advanced Media. Retrieved October 3, 2012. 
  2. ^ "Midseason Updated Top 25 Prospects". Baseball America. July 9, 2010. Retrieved September 7, 2011. 
  3. ^ "Keith Law: Top 100 prospects of 2011 (Nos. 1–25) – ESPN". Espn.com (ESPN Internet Ventures). February 1, 2011. Retrieved September 7, 2011. 
  4. ^ "Breaking down MLB.com's 2011 Top 50 Prospects list | MLB.com: News". Mlb.com (Major League Baseball Advanced Media). Retrieved September 7, 2011. 
  5. ^ a b Rosenthal, Ken (May 13, 2012). "How Los Angeles Angels hooked Mike Trout in MLB Draft — MLB News | FOX Sports on MSN". Foxsports.com. Retrieved May 14, 2012. 
  6. ^ McGarry, Michael (March 30, 2008). "Millville star Mike Trout was born to play". Press of Atlantic City. [dead link]
  7. ^ "Mike Trout — Biography". JockBio™ (JockBio™). Retrieved May 17, 2013. 
  8. ^ "Mike Trout — Biography". JockBio™ (JockBio™). Retrieved May 17, 2013. 
  9. ^ "Mike Trout is New Jersey's finest baseball player". NJ.com. Retrieved July 26, 2012. 
  10. ^ a b c Shelburne, Ramona (July 11, 2010). "Angels' Trout a diamond in the rough". Espn.com (ESPN Internet Ventures). Retrieved September 7, 2011. 
  11. ^ Rich Schultz. "Millville's Mike Trout picked 25th overall by Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the major league baseball draft". Blog.NJ.com. Retrieved September 7, 2011.  Unknown parameter |agence= ignored (help)
  12. ^ Eddy, Matt (January 18, 2010). "Angels Top 10 Prospects". Baseball America. Retrieved September 7, 2011. 
  13. ^ "Baseball America Top 100 Prospects". Baseball America. February 23, 2010. Retrieved September 7, 2011. 
  14. ^ July 13, 2010  (July 13, 2010). "Angels promote top prospect Mike Trout to Rancho Cucamonga". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 7, 2011.  Text "  3:16 pm " ignored (help)
  15. ^ Milb.com (October 27, 2010). "Trout named 2010 Spink Award winner | MiLB.com News | The Official Site of Minor League Baseball". Minorleaguebaseball.com. Retrieved September 7, 2011. 
  16. ^ "Mike Trout Stats, Bio, Photos, Highlights | MiLB.com Stats | The Official Site of Minor League Baseball". Minorleaguebaseball.com. Retrieved September 7, 2011. 
  17. ^ Garretson, Jordan (July 8, 2011). "Trout makes highly anticipated Majors debut". Mlb.com (Major League Baseball Advanced Media). Retrieved July 9, 2011. 
  18. ^ "Mike Trout's first big league homer helps Angels pull away from Orioles". Espn.com (ESPN Internet Ventures). Associated Press. July 24, 2011. Retrieved September 7, 2011. 
  19. ^ "Angels OF Mike Trout headed back to minor leagues". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 26, 2012. 
  20. ^ "Torri Hunter's 2 HRs help Dan Haren, Angels handle O's". Espn.com (ESPN Internet Ventures). Associated Press. August 19, 2011. Retrieved September 7, 2011. 
  21. ^ http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/30836/mike-trout
  22. ^ "Fans like Trout as top minor leaguer". USA Today (USA Today). August 31 – September 6, 2011. p. 24. "Mike Trout won the fan poll with 46% of the 3,271 votes cast at USATODAY.com." 
  23. ^ Baxter, Kevin (September 7, 2011). "Angels FYI: Mike Trout is Minor League Player of the Year". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 7, 2011. 
  24. ^ Cooper, J.J. (September 7, 2011). "2011 Minor League Player Of The Year Mike Trout". Baseball America. Retrieved November 8, 2011. 
  25. ^ J.J. Cooper and Matt Eddy (September 16, 2011). "2011 Minor League All-Star Team". Baseball America. Retrieved October 2, 2011. 
  26. ^ August 31, 2011 (August 31, 2011). "Mike Trout powers Angels past Mariners, 13–6 – Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 14, 2012.  Text "By Kevin Baxter " ignored (help)
  27. ^ "Albert Pujols, Mike Trout help Angels rally past Dodgers". Espn.com (ESPN Internet Ventures). June 11, 2012. Retrieved June 15, 2012. 
  28. ^ "Angels cap two-game sweep of Orioles with 13–1 dismantling". Espn.com (ESPN Internet Ventures). Associated Press. June 27, 2012. Retrieved August 4, 2012. 
  29. ^ Gonzalez, Alden (July 23, 2012). "Haren, Angels take rubber match from Rangers". Mlb.com (Major League Baseball Advanced Media). Retrieved July 24, 2012. 
  30. ^ "Jul 10, 2012, NL All-Stars at AL All-Stars Box Score and Play by Play publisher=Baseball Reference". Retrieved May 17, 2013. 
  31. ^ "Twice as good: Trout again AL Rookie of Month publisher=MLB.Com". Retrieved May 17, 2013. 
  32. ^ Baseball Reference (Baseball Reference). Associated Press. May 17, 2013 [http:http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=troutmi01&year=2012&t=b title=Mike Trout 2012 Baseball Splits http:http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=troutmi01&year=2012&t=b title=Mike Trout 2012 Baseball Splits] |url= missing title (help). Retrieved May 17, 2013. 
  33. ^ "Albert Pujols homers again as Angels edge White Sox in 10". Espn.com (ESPN Internet Ventures). Associated Press. May 28, 2013. Retrieved May 18, 2013. 
  34. ^ "Bartolo Colon takes shutout into seventh as A's batter Angels". Espn.com (ESPN Internet Ventures). Associated Press. August 7, 2012. Retrieved August 17, 2012. 
  35. ^ "Prince Fielder, Delmon Young dunk Angels with consecutive shots". Espn.com (ESPN Internet Ventures). Associated Press. August 27, 2012. Retrieved August 28, 2012. 
  36. ^ "Kendrys Morales' 4 RBIs pace Angels' rout of Mariners". Espn.com (ESPN Internet Ventures). Associated Press. August 31, 2012. Retrieved August 31, 2012. 
  37. ^ "Zack Greinke guides Angels to sixth straight win". Espn.com (ESPN Internet Ventures). Associated Press. September 9, 2012. Retrieved September 10, 2012. 
  38. ^ "Ervin Santana strikes out 11 as Angels trip White Sox". Espn.com (ESPN Internet Ventures). Associated Press. September 21, 2012. Retrieved September 22, 2012. 
  39. ^ "Angels rally by Rangers as Joe Nathan blows save publisher=ESPN Internet Ventures". Espn.com. Associated Press. May 18, 2013. Retrieved May 18, 2013. 
  40. ^ "Mike Trout powers Angels win, but Los Angeles out of playoffs publisher=ESPN Internet Ventures". Espn.com. Associated Press. May 18, 2013. Retrieved May 18, 2013. 
  41. ^ Stark, Jayson (October 2, 2012). "Mike Trout, Buster Posey, and the rest of the 2012 award winners". espn.com (ESPN). Retrieved October 18, 2012. 
  42. ^ "Jared Weaver first in AL to 20 wins as Angels prevail". Espn.com (ESPN Internet Ventures). Associated Press. September 28, 2012. Retrieved September 28, 2012. 
  43. ^ . Baseball-Reference.com reference.com/leaders/SB_leagues.shtmltitle=Yearly League Leaders & Records for Stolen Bases http://www.baseball reference.com/leaders/SB_leagues.shtmltitle=Yearly League Leaders & Records for Stolen Bases. Retrieved May 17, 2013.  Missing or empty |title= (help)
  44. ^ "Yearly League Leaders & Records for WAR Position Players". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved May 16, 2013. 
  45. ^ Gonzalez, Alden (September 30, 2012). "Hunter stuns Rangers in ninth inning of Game 1". Mlb.com (Major League Baseball Advanced Media). Retrieved October 1, 2012. 
  46. ^ {{cite news|url=http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1402054-mlb-awards-mike-trout-headlines-list-of-silver-slugger-winners%7Ctitle=MLB Awards: Mike Trout Headlines List of Silver Slugger Winners publisher=Michael Dub West Media|work=Bleacher Report|date=May 18, 2013|accessdate=May 18, 2013|
  47. ^ "The 2012 Awards". ACTA Sports. October 25, 2012. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. 
  48. ^ "ESPN: Mike Trout hits for cycle, collects 5 RBIs as Angels drub Mariners". May 21, 2013. 
  49. ^ "Mike Trout Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved July 12, 2012. 
  50. ^ Gavin, Mike (July 13, 2012). "Phenom Trout brings his talents to Yankee Stadium". Newsday (New York, NY). Retrieved July 14, 2012. 
  51. ^ "MLB Fan Cave Article: Top Five Outfield Catches Of 2012". Retrieved September 29, 2012. [dead link]

External links [edit]

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