White Sox buying into success of Angels' Trout

Share

As things currently stand, Mike Trout is the odds-on favorite to win an avalanche of awards, from AL MVP to rookie of the year to even gold glove and silver slugger honors. One White Sox player even joked after Saturday's game that Trout might as well win the Cy Young, too.

"Hes a great player," manager Robin Ventura said. "Again, I think talent-wise he does everything. Hes got power, speed. Defensively, the catch he made the other nightyou wont see too many of these guys in a while."

Ventura was alluding to Trout's home run-robbing grab of a Gordon Beckham fly ball in Saturday's game. And that wasn't even Trout's best robbery of a homer this season, as the rookie's leaping catch to take away a home run from Baltimore's J.J. Hardy in late June may stand as the defensive play of the year in baseball this season.

"You might want to put it about 10 rows back for him to not get it because it seems like he's able to catch a lot of them," Ventura said Saturday. "I almost thought he got Rios' walk-off homer Friday. Make sure you hit it a little further."

But defense isn't Trout's only strong suit. Going into Sunday, Trout is leading the American League in runs scored, stolen bases, batting average and OPS. Since being called up in late April, he's hit 19 home runs and has only been thrown out trying to steal a base three times in 36 attempts.

Trout's 6.8 WAR easily is the best in baseball, a full win above leading NL MVP candidate Andrew McCutchen. And he can't even legally buy a beer in this country yet -- he turns 21 on Tuesday.

"I told him in the one at-bat, Im like 'Youre really good, man, because he does it all," catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. "He makes those catches in the outfield look so good. He hits for power, he can run as fast as anyone Ive seen in a long time. He plays the game right, plays the game hard, has a smile on his face. The Angels are lucky to have him and hes one of the best Ive seen in a long time."

Contact Us