Mike Trout

(Fair warning – this is a baseball rant. If you don’t care about baseball or sports you can/should ignore it and we’ll see y’all tomorrow.)

In March of 2013, for my birthday, my son (who was again on leave and again had a plan) hauled me off to Arizona for a few days of spring training with our beloved LA Angels. (This was the trip where we stopped on the way out to see Comet Pan-STARRS and get the header photo for this blog.) The first day in Phoenix we went off to the Peoria Sports Complex to see the Angels play the San Diego Padres.

For whatever reason, at this game we had managed to snag some truly spectacular seats. Second or third row, right behind home plate. The Angels were broadcasting that game on TV – you can clearly see us right there the whole game. THAT kind of truly spectacular seats. (If you love baseball, go to spring training some time. There are LOTS of opportunities to see the players and coaches very up close and personal.)

It was a fun game, hot like Arizona can be, even in March. It was a real treat seeing the players up close and personal, almost like you were at a college or even a high school game.

One other thing I remember quite clearly about the game. Sitting in the two seats to our right were two fans, total strangers, one wearing an Angels cap and one wearing a Padres cap. Younger guys, maybe early to mid 20’s. Before the game, many players were signing autographs, among them Mike Trout, one of the team’s young stars.

This set off the guy in the Padres cap. He just couldn’t stand all of the media attention that Mike Trout had gotten in 2012, his rookie year, winning the AL Rookie of the Year award. He couldn’t believe that we were all buying into the clean-cut image and already reserving a spot in Cooperstown for him.

When Trout came up to bat, the guy in the Padres cap was razzing him good (as is his right, mind you) about how this was going to be the year that he fell off of his pedestal. This was going to be the year that he would be lucky to “bat his weight”. This was going to be the year that he would be lucky to stay up in the big leagues.

The guy in the Padres cap talked and talked and talked the entire game about how much Mike Trout was overrated, how we would all see that this year when he sucked, how it was a joke that Trout came in second for the 2012 American League MVP award, and so on. Blah, blah blah, blah blah, blah blah….

There’s no question that as a huge Angels fan, I’m also a huge Mike Trout fan. Needless to say, I strongly disagreed with the guy. But I never said anything or engaged in the discussion. One of the joys of the game is that everyone’s entitled to their opinion — no matter how wrong, misguided, or misinformed they are. (Kind of like Congress these days, but let’s not go there.) It’s great to get into some friendly give and take about those opinions and how your team’s better than your friend’s team, and so on. But I never forgot his rants or his opinions.

So, now that the season’s over:

Dear nameless, random Padres fan from that March 13th game — YOU WERE TOTALLY WRONG!

The Grantland web site from ESPN has a great article on how Trout’s done this year. It’s a few days old, so I pulled together a table to compare Trout’s 2012 and 2013 stats.

Will Trout win or come in second for the MVP award this season? Probably not — but he’ll probably be in the top five players getting votes. He’ll be a part of the conversation. (Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers is going to win the MVP again. I mean, come on, look at his numbers!)

Across the board, Trout’s 2013 stats are quite good compared to 2012. Some categories have gone down by a little bit (runs scored, home runs, stolen bases, batting average). A great many categories have gotten better this year (hits, doubles, triples, RBI). Two categories in particular (walks and on base percentage) have gotten much better. These are sure signs that he’s getting to be more patient, more mature at the plate.

In addition, the fact that Trout’s runs scored were down can be explained in large part by the performance of the rest of the team. The 2012 Angels finished at 89-73 where the 2013 Angels finished at 78-84. If the rest of the team isn’t hitting, they’re not driving Trout in, even though he’s on base more. (For the record, the Padres finished 76-86 this year.)

So, my nameless, random Padres fan from that March 13th game — stick them facts in your fantasy league next year! Pppfffbbbbbbbbtttttttt!!