Mike Trout
Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout is not your typical 23-year old. While most youngsters that are Trout’s age are just completing college and looking to start life, he has a career that has already made him a household name. The Angels drafted Trout in the first round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft and by 2011, he was ready for his Big League debut as a 19-year old. That season Trout was called up on July 8 and he would only appear in 40 games that year, but he was able to hit 5 home runs with 16 runs batted in while getting a taste of big time baseball. Trout began 2012 in the minors, but when the Angels recalled him on April 28, he was here to stay.
Trout was able to maintain his rookie status for 2012 and he would have a season for the ages as he batted .326 to go along with 30 home runs, 83 runs batted in, and 49 stolen bases. Trout would unanimously win the American League’s Rookie of the Year Award and it took Detroit Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera winning the Triple Crown for Trout not to be selected as the AL MVP. Trout took the baseball world by storm that season as he was already being compared to legends of the game such as Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, and Ken Griffey Jr.
2013 would once again see Trout finish second to Cabrera in the American League MVP balloting, but 2014 would be a little bit different for the phenom.
This past season Trout batted .287 with 36 home runs and 111 runs batted in as he helped the Angels win their first AL West Division Title since 2009 which was enough for him to be named as the AL MVP. Trout turned 23-years old this past August and it is scary good that he can get much better.
Trout will enter next season as the reigning American League MVP while he led the Junior Circuit in strikeouts this past season with 184. Like the rest of his Angel teammates, Trout had an October to forget. Trout was 1-for-12 with one homer and one run batted in as the Angels were upset and swept by the eventual AL Champion Kansas City Royals in the American League Division Series. But you know that it won’t be Trout’s last taste of October baseball.
Trout is that rare five-tool, MLB superstar and he is still a kid that is simply playing a kid’s game. In a short period of time Trout has shown the ability to put the Angels lineup on his back for extended periods of time while he also possesses tremendous range in the outfield. But what sets him apart from other youngsters is that he is extremely coachable and willing to learn. With Hollywood in the backdrop of the Angels home in Anaheim, it would be very easy for Trout to get caught up in the glitz and glamor and develop a swelled head. But instead Trout arrives at the park each day looking to improve which is the work ethic that makes good players great and great players into eventual Baseball Hall of Famers.
In free agency the Angels would sign first baseman Albert Pujols and outfielder Josh Hamilton to mammoth deals over the past few years as they were expected to become the faces of the franchise. But Trout has stolen the show from those veterans and with it the hearts of baseball fans in the United States and as I previously mentioned he is only going to get better. The pride of Milville, New Jersey, Trout is a three-time MLB All-Star and now he can add AL MVP to a rapidly improving resume which is frightening for the other 29 teams in Major League Baseball.
Source: Baseball-reference.com
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