Trout and the Angels returned to the playoffs in 2014, falling to the Kansas City Royals in a three-game ALDS sweep. They haven’t won a postseason game since 2009, the year Trout was drafted. Some of baseball’s biggest stars congregate at the New York Hilton to collect the prestigious Baseball Writers Association of America Awards for the previous season, including MVPs Miguel Cabrera and Buster Posey and young stars Mike Trout and Bryce Harper, named Rookies of the Year for the American and National Leagues, respectively. The official YouTube Kids app is designed for curious little minds.
AL Player of the Month
Was the first American League center fielder to accomplish the feat since Curtis Granderson in 2012 and just the fourth (fifth occurrence) to do so since 2000. Reached the century mark in runs scored for the fourth consecutive season… First player in franchise history to lead the team in runs scored four consecutive seasons.
- Joined Alex Rodriguez, Jimmie Foxx, Jose Canseco and Joe DiMaggio as the only players in American League history to hit 30 home runs five-or-more times before their age-27 season…Also join Alex Rodriguez and Mickey Mantle as the only A.L.
- He hit for the cycle at 21, the youngest AL player ever to do so.
- Harper, perhaps the most touted prospect of all time — a Sports Illustrated cover story dubbed him “The Chosen One” as a 16-year-old — received 16 of 28 first-place votes in a standout first full season for the Washington Nationals.
- Banks was an icon, but his stats pale in comparison to Trout, who owns a WAR of 87.5, the highest ever for a modern player who hasn’t won a postseason game.
- They haven’t won a postseason game since 2009, the year Trout was drafted.
- Now 34, Trout is coming off the worst offensive full season of his career, one in which he played in 130 games but faded from the sport’s consciousness.
Games Played
But another World Series has come and gone, and baseball fans looking for Trout this fall might have been best served to check for him in the stands of his beloved Philadelphia Eagles. Or in a Santa Ana, Calif., courtroom, testifying in the wrongful death lawsuit of former teammate Tyler Skaggs. “Most baseball speedsters are like Ferraris. They’re small, compact and built to go from home to first in the blink of an eye. But watching Trout was like watching a massive Mercedes with a big engine under the hood. He looked like a power hitter, but when you pulled out the stopwatch, you realized he was faster than all those Ferraris.” – Cooper, J.J. Baseball America Staff Writer.
Ohtani, who was brought in to pitch the game’s final frame after going 1 for 3 as Japan’s designated hitter, struck him out swinging to win the tournament. They finally got one, and Trout promptly pulled off a highway exit — and into a hotel parking lot in Irvine, where he popped the question. Afterward, he drove to the event, smiled and took photos with the kids as if nothing had happened.
MLBPAA Angels Heart and Hustle Award
A back injury in 2022 cost him 30 games, and a fractured hamate bone in 2023 forced him to miss all but one of the Angels’ final 75 games. In nearly all of those cases, Trout’s rehab process lasted longer than initially expected. By the time he was entering the final year of his extension, Trout had already amassed Hall of Fame numbers. But the Angels weren’t seen as an up-and-coming team anymore, coming off of three sub-.500 seasons in which they finished 20-plus games out of the AL West lead — not to mention the July 2019 overdose death of Skaggs, which implicated a team staffer and cast a pall over the organization. Trout won a Silver Slugger for his offensive prowess and a Fielding Bible Award for exceptional center-field defense. His 10.5 WAR season was so good — only Aaron Judge (10.8 in 2022 and 2024) and Mookie Betts (10.7 in 2018) have produced better campaigns since — that it sparked serious debate in the MVP race.
How did Mike Trout, the best baseball player of his generation, fade away?
- It’s the third weekend in January 2013, and it’s unseasonably warm in New York, with temperatures climbing into the low 50s.
- In summer 2016, Trout planned to propose to his longtime girlfriend, Jessica Cox, via skywriting.
- Trout’s boyhood hero was Derek Jeter, who spent his whole career with the New York Yankees.
- A back injury in 2022 cost him 30 games, and a fractured hamate bone in 2023 forced him to miss all but one of the Angels’ final 75 games.
- A trade seems especially unlikely now, given Trout’s age, injury history, declining performance and a contract that still has roughly $190 million on it.
- Trout and the Angels returned to the playoffs in 2014, falling to the Kansas City Royals in a three-game ALDS sweep.
Logged 39 home runs the second-most of career (41 HR in 2015)…Marked third 35+ home run season, the most in franchise history. Joined Alex Rodriguez, Jimmie Foxx, Jose Canseco and Joe DiMaggio as the only players in American League history to hit 30 home runs five-or-more times before their age-27 season…Also join Alex Rodriguez and Mickey Mantle as the only A.L. Players all-time to amass seven seasons of 20+ home runs prior to their age-27 season…
Topps/Minor League Player of the Year
The front office has also turned over, with four general managers since Trout was drafted. The only constant has been Moreno, who briefly put the Angels up for sale in 2022 before changing his mind. It wasn’t unusual for him to afrodite casino talk about prospects, particularly minor-league hitters, with members of the team’s front office late into the night.
He cared about who was coming up around him and the foundation of the organization, even as it shifted around him. The pair did enjoy one blockbuster moment together, but it came in March 2023, when Trout’s Team USA faced off against Ohtani’s Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic final. In front of 6.5 million viewers, Trout came to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and Team USA trailing 3-2.
In summer 2016, Trout planned to propose to his longtime girlfriend, Jessica Cox, via skywriting. A plane would write the message in the air — “Will you marry me, Jess? However, Trout got the forecast wrong, and the planes had to be called off and rescheduled for a break in the weather. For years, the hashtag #FreeMikeTrout has popped up during baseball season. Since signing that mega-deal, Trout has had five managers, including interim managers (the Angels hired a sixth, Kurt Suzuki, last month).
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