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Mike Trout

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Michael N. Trout

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[edit] Biographical Information

Mike Trout made his major league debut in 2011 while still a teenager. He was a first-round pick in the 2009 amateur draft and was named baseball's top prospect after the 2010 season. He is the son of Jeff Trout, who was a minor league teammate of Greg Morhardt, the scout who signed Mike for the Angels.

Trout hit .531 as a high school senior, with 18 home runs in 81 at-bats and 20 steals. Baseball America named him a high school All-American outfielder alongside Max Walla and Randal Grichuk. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim took him 25th overall in the 2009 amateur draft, one pick after they took Grichuk. Mike was the only player on stage when Major League Baseball televised the first round of the draft for the first time ever. Trout signed for a $1,215,000 bonus.

Mike split his first pro season between the AZL Angels (.360/.418/.506, 29 R, 25 RBI in 39 G) and the Cedar Rapids Kernels (4 for 15, 4 BB). He was second in the Arizona League in average, .006 behind Jesus Brito. Baseball America rated him the top prospect in the AZL, four slots ahead of teammate Grichuk. He made the AZL All-Star outfield alongside Nick Akins and Rymer Liriano.

Trout opened 2010 with Cedar Rapids and tore up the Midwest League. After 70 games, he was hitting .372/.453/.551 with 38 steals in 45 tries and 63 runs. He was playing error-free ball in center as well. He was chosen for Team USA in the 2010 Futures Game. Trout came in as a first-inning pinch-runner after Domonic Brown hurt his hamstring. Mike stayed in the game in center field. He reached on a Osvaldo Martínez error his first time up, but was caught stealing by Wilin Rosario. In the 5th, Trout reached on an Alex Liddi miscue and scored on a homer by Hank Conger, another Angels prospect. He singled off Trystan Magnuson in the 6th. In the eight inning, Mike doubled off Jeurys Familia and would score on a double by Eric Hosmer. He finished the year playing for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes in the California League, where he hit .306 and slugged .434. After the season he was named by Major League Baseball as the top prospect in the minor leagues, ahead of as P Jeremy Hellickson and OF Bryce Harper.

Trout started the 2011 season with the AA Arkansas Travelers, where he hit .330 with 9 homers, 11 triples, 27 RBI and 28 stolen bases in 78 games over the first half of the season. On July 7th, the Angels announced that he was being called up to the big leagues and would make his major league debut the next day, following a hamstring injury to rookie centerfielder Peter Bourjos. At 19, Trout was the youngest player in the major leagues. "Mike Trout has a chance to be a special player," Angels manager Mike Scioscia stated. "He can really run, and he loves to compete. He has all the tools and the desire to make things happen."

He went 0 for 3 in his debut against the Seattle Mariners, but made a great running catch in the 9th inning with the game tied, depriving Franklin Gutierrez of an apparent double. He hit his first major league home run on July 24th, a three-run shot against the Baltimore Orioles' Mark Worrell that broke open the game in the 8th inning, leading to a 9-3 Angels win. He was the first teenager to hit a major leaguer homer since Justin Upton in 2007. With Bourjos again healthy, Trout was sent back to Arkansas on August 1st, having gone 7 for 43 with a homer and 6 RBI in his first taste of major league action.

After a few weeks in the minors, Trout was brought back up to the majors. Scioscia had talks with Bobby Abreu and Vernon Wells, apparently indicating that they would have less playing time as a result. On August 30th, Trout showed that it would be hard to dislodge him from the starting line-up from now on with a great performance against the Mariners; he hit two homers and drove in 5 runs that day. Both homers came off Anthony Vasquez, making only his second career start. At the conclusion of the minor league season, he was named by Baseball America as its Minor League Player of the Year, succeeding Jeremy Hellickson. For the year in Arkansas, he had hit .326/.414/.544, with 18 doubles, 13 triples, 11 homers and 33 steals in a tremendous all-around performance while one of the youngest players in the circuit. In the majors, Trout played in 40 games with a batting line of .220/.281/.390; he hit 6 doubles and 5 homers, and played all three outfield positions.

Mike Trout showed up in spring training in 2012 with a mysterious illness. He had lost 15 pounds and was too weak to play in the initial Cactus League games. The Angels described the illness as a type of flu bug or virus. Trout was taking medication although doctors could not pinpoint the exact condition, after ruling out a thyroid disorder or Valley Fever. The result was that his chances of making the big league team shrank to nothing, and he was assigned to the AAA Salt Lake Bees to start the season. He did not stay in Salt Lake long, though. The Angels got off to an unexpectedly rough start, and on April 27th made a couple of moveds to shake the team, including releasing 17-year veteran Bobby Abreu and swallowing the remainder of his contract, and calling up Trout to Anaheim.

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