Mike Trout needs his own thread

Yeah BR dWAR hasn't changed.

when's the last time someone's led his league in both triples and walks? the best i can find is mantle in 1955

Rickey Henderson didn't; never hit more than 7 triples in a season!

yeah he was my first guess too! i was really surprised at his low triples total

Brett Butler led in both categories, not in the same season.

I'm seeing a lotta fast guys who were known for not walking a ton (Reyes, Lance Johnson, Willie Wilson) as triples leaders.

Harmon Killebrew, Frank Thomas, and Prince Fielder all led their leagues in walks. Triples, not so many.

maybe guys who hit a lot of triples are aggressive in a way that works against walking.

i would think that the traits of a strong triples hitter would be

1) fast (duh)
2) plays in a pitcher's park (so strong blasts to the alley and line drives into the corner would have more distance to bounce around before the OF can get it back in)
3) high SLG, but more of a XBH guy rather than a HR hitter
4) aggressive baserunner

i'm surprised that ricky henderson never hit more than 7, although i'm not sure about the characteristics of the old A's coliseum, along with the other parks he played in.

rickey probably stopped at second a lot so he could steal third

^^^actual rickey quote iirc

"rickey probably stopped at second a lot so he could steal third

― k3vin k., Friday, August 16, 2013 5:35 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink"

-rickey henderson

^^^actual rickey quote iirc

A whole page of theories:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=neyer_rob&id=1542089

robs a home run!

left the game in the 6th, sore hammy. please be minor

"when's the last time someone's led his league in both triples and walks?"

It's not Pete Rose. I went and checked as I remembered he drew quite a few walks at points in his career. Dude hit some triples though, not too many players hit 5 three-baggers at age 40.

caught stealing tonight, rare occurrence

Big game today: 3-3, double, triple, walk, run.

really infuriating how mlb.com highlights show any run-scoring play but doesn't have (free) video of mike freaking trout legging out a triple

up to 9.2 fWAR

http://wapc.mlb.com/play/search/?player_id=545361&tagName=Mike%20Trout

ok, the triple's up now

caught stealing AND picked off last night

the bum

From Cliff Corcoran's MVP round-up today: "The 22-year-old Trout, by the way, is younger than five of the six Rookie of the Year candidates listed below. That's not relevant to this race. It's just amazing."

caught stealing AND picked off last night

actually that was all one play -- it's kinda weird how they score it imo

ah ok i did see it was by the catcher this morning - tho last night when i was following the game they only had it scored as a CS, which is why i assumed they were separate

From SweetSpot: Will become the seventh .300/.400/.500 player under the age of 23 ever: Pujols, A-Rod, Kaline, Mantle, Mathews Musial. (I assumed he did it last year, but his OBP was .399.)

pretty good company there

#	Name	Team	G	PA	H	HR	R	RBI	SB	BB%	K%	ISO	BABIP	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA	wRC+	Fld	BsR	WAR
1	Mike Trout	Angels	317	1403	387	58	245	183	85	11.8 %	20.0 %	.230	.373	.320	.405	.550	.408	165	22.2	21.7	20.5
2	Ryan Howard	Phillies	1178	5018	1176	311	695	963	12	11.7 %	27.9 %	.274	.324	.271	.361	.545	.378	130	-23.4	-38.9	20.5

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2013&month=0&season1=1990&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=10155,2154

Misaligned, but...

He's scored about 30 fewer runs in the same number of games compared to last year, despite a better OBP, and the Angels are on pace to score almost the same number of runs as last year. How is this possible? Is it entirely due to Josh Hamilton hitting behind him and sucking all year?

he's batting 3rd instead of leadoff, and yeah that too

My friend came through with Jays tickets for tomorrow. I will watch his every move closely.

see if he does better than when i saw him, 2-3 with a walk

http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/lookandlearn-preview/A/A013/A013423.jpg

Trout had an okay night; only 1-4, but also a walk and two runs scored. He DH-ed, so unfortunately I didn't get to see him field. The Angels' other MT was 5-5, three doubles, a homer, 11 total bases, and five runs scored. Buehrle got hammered.

Came relatively close to a foul ball of Trout's bat--two rows behind us, maybe 15 seats to the left. I said to my friend that such a baseball might be worth something one day, but wondered how you'd ever authenticate that it was Trout who hit it. "I'd authenticate it," he offered.

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/buster-olney/post?id=3190

buster olney on why trout's the best all-around player in the game. anyone who'd like to post the text of the article for us cheapos can go ahead, hint hint

trout now ranks 13th in war in angels history; he has fewer plate appearances than anyone in the top 35

having a fun time googling "mike trout scouting report" and seeing what people thought about him 3, 4, 5 years ago. i was kind of out of the baseball loop at the time

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/minors/awards/player-of-the-year/2011/2612308.html

he was pretty well-regarded -- 2010 midwest league mvp as an 18-year-old, hitting .362/.454/.526 with 45 stolen bases in 81 games, narrowly beaten out for texas league mvp by slippery rock's own matt adams in 2011 -- but, you know, so was brandon wood. the atlantic league is littered with guys who once tore up the california league.

he didn't show this kind of power in the minors, but at 6'2", 230 maybe that was bound to happen.

btw randal grichuk (see op) hit 22 homers in double-a this year, but with a .306 obp.

http://baseballnewshound.com/?p=66

this is great, look at the comparison at the top

one article i read quoted the scouting director as saying he picked grichuk before trout just to scare the shit out of the area scout who scouted him

anyone know why he's been DHing lately?

he's 5 for his last 28, but has turned into a walking machine

just clocked one about 450 feet to dead center, 2 straight games going yard

last night's was farther, holy cow

http://wapc.mlb.com/laa/play/?content_id=30679623&c_id=ana

look at figueroa pointing up after he hits it, lol

beast

In case you weren't keeping track:

http://joeposnanski.blogspot.ca/2013/09/baseball-reference.html#more

For such a fluid, grab-bag of an achievement, that's a pretty impressive group of players--which makes sense.

'nother dinger tonight

Think about the adulation a 21-year-old prospect would get if he put up a .500 OBP in Double-A over a half-season. Think what everyone would say if that prospect could also run, field, and hit for power. Baseball America would release issues with tri-folds in the middle.

This player is doing it in the majors. Not Triple-A. But in the majors. Playing half of his games in a pitcher's park.

http://www.baseballnation.com/2013/9/20/4750774/mike-trout-angels-mvp

awesome that he's at the top of that distance leaderboard. probably helped a little by playing in such a cavernous park, but still