Trout

[ten ocho recon scout]

May as well start a thread on this.

He's in a funk lately, obviously. And not a lot of bad luck, but at least to my "I'm no pro" eyes, he doesn't seem confidant right now. Seems like he's getting fooled more. 

I'm sure he'll heat up again. And hopefully this is an anti-jinx thread. 

But on top of that...

He came up shirt robbing a HR against Oakland 2 weeks ago. Just missed it. And again this past Sunday against the rangers, he missed another and looked pretty bad.

I'm sure the reality is those were just really tough plays. And harder than it looks.

But the combo of seeing both (the bat and defense) "Not Trout" lately is weird to see. 

This isn't a "he's done" post. Just that it's weird to see him go from superman to very good. 

And we need him to get back to superman soon.

[jsnpritchett]

He's done. 

[jsnpritchett]

6 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

This isn't a "he's done" post. 

 

Just now, jsnpritchett said:

He's done. 

Whoops.

[REDneck]

I'm not sure how long into his career we can expect vintage Trout.

I would think we can still expect very good for several more years, if healthy.

 

 

[full circle]

He’s got a giant hole in his swing.  He doesn’t handle hard up and in and pitchers are just gonna keep throwing it there.  That’s obviously tough to hit hard but it looks like he’s also consistently missing fastballs that the pitcher misses his spot on.  

[TroutField]

1 minute ago, full circle said:

He’s got a giant hole in his swing.  He doesn’t handle hard up and in and pitchers are just gonna keep throwing it there.  That’s obviously tough to hit hard but it looks like he’s also consistently missing fastballs that the pitcher misses his spot on.  

You’re right, just from watching on TV seems like a lot of swing and miss from him. 

[REDneck]

Dude is about to go on a rampage after this thread!

[Mark68]

I expect the days of consistently "vintage" Trout are nearing an end. That doesn't mean he's going to start sucking, it just means that his slumps will probably get longer as he gets older. 

 

And yes, this means that he'll probably have to move to a corner outfield spot within the next 2-3 years. 

 

Time is the great equalizer. 

 

 

[Angelsfan1984]

2 hours ago, Mark68 said:

I expect the days of consistently "vintage" Trout are nearing an end. That doesn't mean he's going to start sucking, it just means that his slumps will probably get longer as he gets older. 

 

And yes, this means that he'll probably have to move to a corner outfield spot within the next 2-3 years. 

 

Time is the great equalizer. 

 

 

[ten ocho recon scout]

Another thing I've noticed (but then I'm no expert, and could just be my eyes fooling me) is that he seems like he's behind more pitches now. Not just swing and miss, but he seems to be fouling and popping the ball to right more than he used to?

Just seems like his timing is off.

[Angelsjunky]

I'm kind of concerned about his walk rate. 16 walks in 34 games is not very Troutian. His 10.3% (and 10.8% last year) is about two-thirds of his career 14.8%, and about half his best year (20.1% in 2018). Some of that might be due to having Shohei and Rendon behind him, but that itself makes his overall declined numbers more worrisome, because he should be getting more pitches to hit. I think it almost means pitchers aren't quite as afraid of him. There's a "book" on Trout, and unlike earlier in his career, he hasn't (yet) adjusted.

He always did before, though, so hopefully he will again. He's not yet old enough that we should see at least a couple more years of peakish hitting. I don't think his bat speed has declined and he seems physically good. Hitters these days, especially elite ones, often retain their skills a few years into their 30s. On the other hand, my long-term fear is that he's got a lot of similarities to Pujols and Griffey, both of whom collapsed around the age Trout is now. He's not (yet) collapsing, but the longer he goes without an extended hot streak, the more I start worrying that this isn't just "Trout hasn't warmed yet," but "Trout isn't as good anymore."

[Brandon]

Placing my bet now from the anti-jinx thread. Trout is +1000 for MVP.

[T.G.]

Baseball is freakin' hard.

[REDneck]

Trout's wrath after this thread

[Chuck]

I'm so glad it was someone else who started this thread because watching Trout's at-bats lately have been painful. 

Trout has always had issues hitting the high fastball, but I've noticed he can't even catch up to the low 90's heaters in the middle-upper part of the zone. 

If you're a pitcher and knows that he crushes breaking balls in the middle half and fastballs down in the zone, why would you ever throw him anything but high heat and sliders/curves on the outside corner or low and away for the punchout? 

Trout needs to adjust or I'm afraid we'll never see vintage Trout again. 

The good news is he has an incredible work ethic and he's always trying to improve his game. I would NEVER bet against Mike Trout because of that. 

[Jeff Fletcher]

He’s 31 so he’s not going to be as good as he was when he was 26 or 27. And he obviously at the moment is not even as good as his normal age 31 talent.
 

Yet somehow he still has a .908 OPS.

[UndertheHalo]

Very sad etc 

[Duren, Duren]

As he gets older, newer, younger pitchers enter the league. They may not have the same respect for him based on past experiences of facing him in his prime. So they challenge him more. And they  may have stuff, pitch arsenals and deliveries  that he is unfamiliar with. 

But that may be only a part of the problem. 

Umps also don't seem to have the same automatic respect for his eye on ball/strike calls.  

But I think it really is just age and wear and tear. It happens to everyone. HOF players included. Reflexes aren't the same, aches and pains linger longer, eyesight can degrade and so on. Plus the effects of past injuries still possibly causing discomfort. 

Not that Trout has dramatically slipped. But it seems like an incremental process in it"s early stages. And because of his work ethic and innate talent he realistically can still be an above average players for years to come. 

I expect that he will have some great hot streaks when he gets in his comfort zone, but probably overall will have stats reflecting a gentle downward slope. 

I also think it unlikely that he will be an automatic MVP candidate much longer. The world and league move on. New faces, new media favorites, and so on. Butt if the Angels do make the playoffs and he maintains at least semi elite stats he could still be a top three candidate. The media will see it as a kind of redemption, finally playing in the post season after nine years of his prime on the outside looking in. 

[Blarg]

Trout hit .308/.395/.589/.984 for April. Nothing to complain about, those are superstar numbers.

But May (the last 7 games) has been awfully Mathis like at .214/.290/.321/.612. Since we are pretty much ADD as fans, 7 games are projected as future results no matter how stupid that idea is. I myself felt like Trout's Kryptonite was a runner on first base, because I saw him erase those runners on ground ball force plays. But stats say that's a rare incident. I just tuned in for the failures instead of the success.  

The last 7 games have sucked for Trout, the team and us the fans. I doubt this is going to continue much longer and by the end of the month his slash line is going to look a lot like April's. It's just a matter of waiting it out. 

[totdprods]

33 minutes ago, Duren, Duren said:

As he gets older, newer, younger pitchers enter the league. They may not have the same respect for him based on past experiences of facing him in his prime. So they challenge him more. And they  may have stuff, pitch arsenals and deliveries  that he is unfamiliar with. 

Not to mention he’s missed so much time the last few seasons.

FWIW, I’d take 140 games of .900 OPS Trout over 50 games of 1.000+ OPS Trout.

[T.G.]

Mike Trout is the least of this team's worries.

[ten ocho recon scout]

2 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

I'm so glad it was someone else who started this thread because watching Trout's at-bats lately have been painful. 

Trout has always had issues hitting the high fastball, but I've noticed he can't even catch up to the low 90's heaters in the middle-upper part of the zone. 

If you're a pitcher and knows that he crushes breaking balls in the middle half and fastballs down in the zone, why would you ever throw him anything but high heat and sliders/curves on the outside corner or low and away for the punchout? 

Trout needs to adjust or I'm afraid we'll never see vintage Trout again. 

The good news is he has an incredible work ethic and he's always trying to improve his game. I would NEVER bet against Mike Trout because of that. 

Reference the first paragraph. I figured I'd do it because somebody needed to. He's been amazing, and I'm confidant he wakes up soon, but it's hard to not notice.

Where you mention the part about struggling with low fastballs. I have no idea, I'm not good enough to gauge that. But at least to me, like I mentioned earlier, he does seem to be behind a lot more lately. Seems to be fouling off to right field a lot more than I remember.

Main thing (like I mentioned earlier) is the combo. And I'm sure it's just because it's harder than it seems. But the two missed catches, combined with his bat, are standing out. Not used to seeing him fail at anything.

 

[Taylor]

Trade him before his value gets too low.

[ten ocho recon scout]

17 minutes ago, T.G. said:

Mike Trout is the least of this team's problems.

I think it's magnified as others struggle. Renfroe has cooled from where he was, Drury hasn't saved a game with a clutch home run, Ward continues to struggle, etc. 

So you look to Trout and Shohei to fix it all. When they don't, you don't worry about the first guys mentioned, because you expect less.

[T.G.]

4 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

I think it's magnified as others struggle. Renfroe has cooled from where he was, Drury hasn't saved a game with a clutch home run, Ward continues to struggle, etc. 

So you look to Trout and Shohei to fix it all. When they don't, you don't worry about the first guys mentioned, because you expect less.

Valid points for sure.  I just think most of the time we take what he does for granted, but the minute he slumps (even a little), panic sort of sits in with some fans. He's human. Baseball is hard.  Yes, he often makes it look easy, but he's been THE guy with a target on his back for so long...  we might expect too much from him.  We all know that even the greatest fail to get on base 60% of the time. 

His numbers will inevitably go down.  It happens to them all.  Sometimes that's hard for fans to watch.