It seems as though in the last week or ten days there’s been a coupe of prevalent statements going around Major League Baseball and I don’t know how anyone came to these conclusions.
Now both of these talking points concern Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim; so let’s look at these and see if they’re even possible.
Here’s the first one. We don’t talk about Mike Trout enough.
Now unless the networks are going to dedicate an entire show to Trout I’m not sure if there’s a way networks could talk about him more than they do now. I don’t know how they could talk about Trout anymore than they do right now, but for some reason someone got the idea that they’re not talking about him enough. I guess they don’t watch the other shows on the networks they work for.
Considering in the last six seasons Trout has won two MVP awards while finishing three times and fourth once and in the seasons he didn’t win these shows talked about him until their viewer ears bleed. I can still remember hearing multiple shows last season try to give Trout the MVP award even though he was injured and played in just 114 game and the Angels weren’t even in the playoff race.
If you thought that the various shows that cover baseball brought Trout’s name up a lot get ready to hear it even more.
Here’s the second one. Mike Trout is underrated.
Now since a lot of the shows that talk about Trout are televised from the East coast they’re off the air by the time Trout’s games are over. Now I don’t believe this makes him underrated, but it just puts him behind.
Trout is currently hitting .328 and is tied for the major league lead in home runs with J.D. Martinez at 23. Trout also leads the majors with 62 runs scored. He has also drawn the most walks in baseball so far this season with 67. That puts him 11 walks ahead of Bryce Harper who is second in that category.
Now with the big numbers Trout has out up so far tis season and especially the fact that he’s got big home run numbers there’s no way he can be considered underrated.
Now if either of these statements where considered true there is a way Trout could change them. Get the Angels into the playoffs. This is Trout’s 7th full seasons at the major league level as he just played in his 1000th game, but he’s only played in three playoff games and he didn’t perform well in them.
In 12 post season at bats Trout has 1 hit which gives him an .083 batting average. His one hit was a home run and he did draw 3 walks, but the Angels where swept in that series.
Trout is clearly the best player in baseball right now and is on track to end up in the Hall of Fame when his career is over. I actually like Trout as a player. It’s just the stupidity that the media shows around him that I get tired of.
Remember when the Los Angeles Dodgers got off to a 12-16 start the all of the baseball media wrote them off? Now the funny thing is they won’t remember this either and they’ll say that they believed in the Dodgers all along, but any fan who pays attention knows better than that. They talk about how it looked like the Dodgers window to win was closed after going to the World Series last season and there was even some talk about them looking into trading Clayton Kershaw.
I’m not a big believer in burying a team a month into a season, but I guess it gives the media something to talk about and then when or if the team comes back they can talk about how they never gave up on them and they knew they’d be back in the race. I don’t know what’s wrong with owning up to something you said, but I can pretty much guarantee that you won’t hear any of the talking heads on television admit that they said the Dodgers where done.
Speaking of those Dodgers they are now 38-35 and find themselves in 2nd pace in the NL West just 2 1/2 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks and Kershaw hasn’t pitched sine May 31st. Not bad for a team that was written off just a month into the season and now Kershaw is returning to the mound tonight.
Kershaw didn’t get off to the kind of start to the season that people expected and then he had a couple of injury issues.
Kershaw made 7 starts for the Dodgers and then went on the disabled list with bicep tendonitis on May 1st. Kershaw spent the entire month of May on the disabled list as he returned May 31st to make a start against the Philadelphia Phillies. After 5 innings in that start Kershaw was removed and landed back on the disabled list with back strain.
Kershaw has made 8 starts this season and while his record is just 1-4 his ERA is very good at 2.76. In three of Kershaw’s four losses the Dodgers have scored 1 run twice and 2 runs once; so you have to think with a little bit of run support Kershaw won-loss record would be respectable.
Now originally the Dodgers had scheduled Kershaw for a minor league rehab start tonight, but instead he will come right back to the major league team off of the disabled list and will start tonight against the New York Mets.
The Dodgers not only will get Kershaw back tonight, but Rich Hill returned from the disabled list on Tuesday. Hill pitched 6 scoreless innings against the Chicago Cubs, but the Dodgers did lose the game 2-1.
Even with Kershaw and Hill back in their the Dodgers still have a couple of starters on the disabled list. Hyun-Jin Ryu was moved to the 60 day DL and isn’t expected to return until the end of July as he recovers from a groin injury. Rookie Walker Buehler was fantastic filling in while the Dodgers dealt with their injuries. Buehler went 4-1 in 9 starts with an ERA of 2.63 before landing on the disabled list with a microfracture to his ribs. Buehler could possibly return early next month.
The Dodgers where just one of a couple of teams that where written off very, very early this season. It appears as though they’re back in the NL West race and unless they get hit with another big round of injuries you have to think they’ll contend for a playoff spot. I guess those people on television did something my mother always told me not to do. It looks like they counted their chickens before they where hatched.
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