8.08.2012

Article: Mike Trout's Rookie Campaign Is History in the Making

My favorite ball player is the feature of another article. Jonah Keri's article "Mike Trout's Rookie Campaign Is History in the Making" examines the historic rookie season never before seen in MLB history.

As Keri states Trout "leads the American League in batting average (.346), runs scored (87), and stolen bases (36). He ranks second in slugging average (.602), first in Weighted Runs Created Plus (185), and first in Wins Above Replacement (7.1, per Baseball-Reference.com). He's stolen 27 bases in a row, an Angels franchise record. He's hitting .346/.409/.601, good for an OPS of 1.010 that would be the second-best by a rookie in 55 years, trailing only Albert Pujols's 1.013 in 2001. Only three players in baseball ever stole more bases before their 21st birthday than Trout: Ty Cobb, Claudell Washington, and Sherry Magee. If he holds on to win the batting title, he'd become the third-youngest player, at 21 years and 57 days, ever to accomplish that feat, trailing only Al Kaline and Cobb. Only one other player racked up a .350-plus batting average, 15 or more homers, and 30 or more steals before August 1 of any given season: Rickey Henderson, in 1985. Only three other players this young have ever posted an OPS of 1.000 or higher in a season: Alex Rodriguez, Mel Ott, and Ted Williams...If Trout plays every game the rest of this season and maintains his current pace, he'd hit .346 with 32 homers and 57 steals, something no one else has ever done (even if he cools off a bit, no player has managed .340 with 20 homers and 40 steals either)"

Read the full article here.

No comments:

Post a Comment