HomeTrending MLB NewsStunning Mike Trout stat highlights Angels' ineptitude

Stunning Mike Trout stat highlights Angels’ ineptitude

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Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout hit the first home run of the MLB season with a solo shot off of Baltimore Orioles ace Corbin Burnes on March 28.

The three-time AL MVP has picked up four more homers since then and enters Tuesday tied for the league lead with five.

Each of Trout’s dingers this spring have been solo home runs and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale noted Tuesday that his last 10 long balls have been with the bases empty.

The 32-year-old having to carry the Angels on his back is nothing new for the future Hall of Famer.

Both Trout and Alfonso Soriano spent large parts of their careers as leadoff hitters, resulting in plenty of solo homers.

Where Trout has played on mediocre Angels teams year after year though, Soriano’s substantial percentage of home runs with nobody on base is a bit more surprising given the stacked rosters he was a part of.

The seven-time All-Star opened his career with 31 games across two seasons with the New York Yankees in 1999 and 2000, hitting three home runs (all solo shots). Soriano then became the Yankees’ starting second baseman from 2001-03, registering 95 regular-season home runs, making two All-Star teams and helping lead the Bronx Bombers to two AL pennants.

The four-time Silver Slugger award winner shared a lineup with the likes of stars like Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter, five-time All-Star centerfielder Bernie Williams and one-time MVP first baseman Jason Giambi.

Soriano was sent to the Texas Rangers in February 2004 in a blockbuster trade that landed Alex Rodriguez in the Bronx.

Soriano continued his power surge with 64 dingers over two seasons in Texas and 46 in one year with the Washington Nationals in 2006, joining lineups with players like three-time All-Star first baseman Mark Teixeira and two-time All-Star third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. Soriano then spent six-plus seasons with fellow sluggers like three-time All-Stars Aramis Ramirez and Anthony Rizzo and hit 181 home runs with the Chicago Cubs.

He closed his career with 23 more home runs with New York in 2013 and 2014.

Trout’s lack of help across his 14 seasons with the Angels is well documented.

Despite the 2009 first round pick’s 11 All-Star honors and scores of other accolades, the team has failed to make the playoffs every year since his 2011 rookie campaign. Trout helped lead the Angels to the postseason that year, though they were swept in the ALDS by the Kansas City Royals.

In the final season of the Trout-Shohei Ohtani era in 2023, the Angels finished in fourth place in the AL West at 73-89 for their eighth consecutive losing season.

The Halos are off to a 6-4 start in 2024, while Ohtani’s Los Angeles Dodgers are 9-4.

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