A Wizard With A Bat

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The 2015 Major League Baseball season has been an up and down one for the Los Angeles Angels, but at no fault of outfielder Mike Trout. Trout is in his fourth MLB season (all with the Angels) and his bucket list of accomplishments is truly amazing. Trout is only 24-years of age and already he has been named as the American League Rookie of the Year in 2012, he is the reigning AL MVP, and he’s also the reigning All-Star Game MVP. Trout has a career batting average of .303 and some folks are proclaiming him to be the modern day Mickey Mantle as he is one of the bright, young faces of baseball.

As a team the Angels got off to a slow start this year as they were only 11-11 at the end of April, but Trout batted .329 for the month with 5 home runs and 14 runs batted in. The Angels did improve their play and by July 22, they were in first place in the American League West with a two-game lead over the Houston Astros.

But a wrist injury began to slow Trout down as he finally showed signs of being human. Trout suffered the injury while attempting to make a diving play in the outfielder and it forced him to miss consecutive games in late July. Trout attempted to play through the wrist injury and his production at the plate dipped mightily. For the month of August, Trout only batted .218 with a home run and 7 runs batted in and it is no coincidence that the Angels record reflected that as they were just 10-19 during that month. But now as the calendar has shifted to September, Trout’s play has improved and he is once again primed to put the Halos on his back.

The Angels currently have a record of 76-73 and they are just two games behind the Astros for the final wild card spot in the American League. And just like a fine thoroughbred, Trout can see the finish line which in this case in the postseason.

For the month of September, Trout is batting .258 with 6 homers and 11 runs batted in. Trout came up big this past Thursday night with a pair of home runs and 5 runs batted in during the Angels 11-8 comeback victory over the Minnesota Twins. Thursday’s game against the Twins was a must-win situation for the Angels as Minnesota is one of the team’s that they are in contention with for the final wild card berth in the American League.

And now that Trout has once again found his groove at the plate, the Angels have more than a puncher’s chance to get to the playoffs as he has consistently shown that he can be a player that can put a lineup on his back for an extended period of time. Trout is an elite player, but he is also in that rare air due to the fact that no stage is too big for him to perform on which is why the Angels are still in the hunt and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he were to do something out of the ordinary over the final two weeks of the regular season which is good news for Los Angeles and bad news for the other contending teams in the American League.

With a career WAR (wins above replacement) of 36, Trout is on pace to become the Angels all-time leader in the category by the end of the 2017 Major League Baseball season as he is re-writing the franchise’s record books. And in a town that is full of scripts that have led to box-office success, Mr. Trout is creating his own for himself and the Halos.

Source: Baseball-reference.com

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By | 2015-09-21T21:31:09+00:00 September 21st, 2015|Categories: Major League Baseball|Tags: , |0 Comments

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