By Frustrated By Starting the Year in Triple A, Mike Trout Is Taking it Out on the Rest of the Majors
June 15, 2012 – 10:00 am by Chris Fedor
For 40 games last season, everyone around MLB got a little taste of what Angels outfielder Mike Trout could do when given his chance. For some reason, Los Angeles wasn’t willing to give him that chance straight out of Spring Training and the Angels got off to a slow start. The minute that he was called up, his impact was once again felt in LA. The 20-year-old has completely changed the fortunes of the Angels as the team has compiled a 27-15 record since he was called up. Trout has done it all at the top of the lineup since getting the call and was recently named the AL Player of the Week along with teammate Torii Hunter. At one time, LA was looked at as an early season disappointment. Thanks in large part to Trout they are now nipping at the heels of the Texas Rangers in the race for the AL West.
Mike Trout joined KGOW in Houston with Travis Rodgers to talk about the early season struggles the Angels had, how frustrating it was for him to start the year at Triple A, whether there was any concern amongst the players when the team got off to such a slow start, what it would be like to be an All-Star this season, on his approach and how important it was for him to get a little taste of the majors last year.
On the early season struggles the Angels had:
“No. It’s just early in the year, just a little slump and every team goes through it. You can’t win every game. We were pressing a little bit just trying to win. We had high expectations coming into the season and actually it’s good that we went through it because now we know how to prepare later in the season if it happens again.”
How frustrating it was for him to start the year at Triple A:
“It was frustrating not playing because I wanted to be on the field and get an opportunity to play. Just took full stride in Triple A and just did what I was capable of doing and came up here and got the opportunity to play.”
Whether there was any concern amongst the players when the team got off to a slow start:
“Yeah it’s a long year and teams always go in slumps. It was just one of those things where everyone was slumping at one time. These last couple of weeks we have been swinging the bats well and scoring some runs, pitching well and everything is starting to come together.”
What it would be like for him to make it to the All-Star game:
“It’d be awesome. It would be a dream come true. As a kid you always wanted to be an All-Star. First goal is to make it to the big leagues and individually All-Star would be incredible, it would definitely be on the top of my list.”
On his approach since he got called up to the majors:
“I just try to stay within myself. Once I try to do too much and think about stuff that’s when things start to get big. I just have to stay with my approach that worked through my minor league career so far and that’s what I’ve been doing. It’s been working.”
How important it was for him to get a taste of the majors last year”
“Oh definitely. The experience I got last year was huge. I knew what to expect coming into the year, got to bond with the guys, great team chemistry right now and everything is going good.”
Listen to Mike Trout on KGOW in Houston here
Tags: AL West, Los Angeles Angels, Mike Trout, MLB, WGOW
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