Sunday, June 24, 2012

Red Carpet Special : Trout Season


Twenty games into the new baseball season the Angels were reaching for the panic button. Off to a 6-14 start with a struggling high priced free agent they were looking for anyone and anything to right the ship. That answer was found on April 28 when the club released disgruntled OF/DH Bobby Abreu and recalled the no. 2 prospect in the country Mike Trout.

Before infusing Trout into the starting lineup, Angel lead off hitters were posting a lowly .250 OBP, since then they are reaching base at a .325 clip while compiling a 33-19 record putting the Angels right back into the playoff picture.

Sports Illustrated Images
The soon to be 21 year old had his first taste of the big leagues last season, playing in 40 games. Only hitting .220 with a .281 OBP Trout was expected to begin this season in Triple A once again with the log jam the Angels had in both the OF and DH positions. Learning from that initial failure Trout is back to doing the things he has always shown he was capable of and the things he was doing before that brief call up.

Since 4/28 the Angels star is already the no. 1 ranked OF in 5x5 roto leagues, leading all of MLB in runs (42) and steals (20) over that time frame. He also has the 3rd most hits (68) tied with Joey Votto and Carlos Gonzalez since his return. Tacking on 7 HR and 29 RBI (the most amongst MLB lead off men in the same time frame) while adding a nifty .336/.399/.534 slash line.

Trout has never shown elite power but is still very young and has already shown he's capable of 15-20 HR, and in 90 big league games he's hit 12 HR. Trout is also making much better contact in his second stint, with a 24.5 % Line Drive rate of balls batted while hitting more ground balls 42.8% . With his batting average of balls in play (BABIP) current at .394 he's a touch lucky but his LD% and ground ball rate combined with his speed mean that even he's somewhere near a .350 BABIP he's a .300 plus hitter. Trout has a very solid walk rate (9.2%) as well, meaning he's going to be on base even when he slumps. That could also climb a bit as he's had a walk rate of over 10% at nearly every stop in his 2 minor league seasons.

Looking at the lofty company Trout already holds with his current production in fantasy, owners will be using a first round pick on him for years to come.

2012 Final Line prediction: .312 AVG 102 R 22 HR 81 RBI 43 SB

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