Baseball: Trout wins MVP (UPDATED)
By Phil Anastasia
This baseball season was something different for Mike Trout.
The Los Angeles Angels outfielder hit for more power than in his first two seasons. He struck out more often and stole fewer bases.
Trout drove in more runs. He generated more extra-base hits. He flourished in big games, leading the Angels to the best record in baseball and the American League West title.
Trout, the 23-year-old Millville High School graduate, was a slightly different player in 2014.
He was something else as well: the American League's Most Valuable player.
Trout was the unanimous choice for one of his sport's most prestigious awards in voting announced Thursday night by the Baseball Writers of America Association.
"It means a lot," Trout said in a conference call. "You always want to win something. You do that, you get emotional a little bit."
Trout received a first-place vote from all 30 writers for 420 points. Detroit's Victor Martinez was second with 229 points and Cleveland's Michael Brantley was third with 185.
Trout is the fifth-youngest player to win an MVP award behind Stan Musial (1943), Johnny Bench (1970) Vida Blue (1971 and Cal Ripken Jr. (1983).
Willie Mays (1954) and Hank Aaron (1957) also won MVP awards at the age of 23, but they were older during those seasons than Trout was in 2014.
Trout is the youngest player in baseball history to be voted a unanimous MVP.
"It's definitely a special night," Trout said.
Trout did an interview with the MLB Network during the award ceremony from his parents' home in Millville.
Trout was The Inquirer's South Jersey Player of the Year in 2009. He set a state record that season with 18 home runs.
"It's always nice to bring it back to Millville," Trout said. "It's definitely a special night, with lots of family and friends. It's always good to be back where you came from."
Trout led the American League in RBIs with 111 and led the majors in runs with 115. He was the youngest player to lead the majors in both runs and extra-base hits (84).
Trout was the runner-up in the MVP voting to Detroit's Miguel Cabrera in both 2012 and 2013.
In his first two full seasons, Trout was known more for his speed and high batting average than his power. He batted .326 in first full season in 2012 and .323 in 2013 and stole a combined 82 bases.
But after batting leadoff for most those two seasons, Trout was the Angels' No. 2 hitter for much of this season and developed into more of a slugger.
His speed still was on display on his doubles (36) and triples (9). He stole 16 bases and showed great range as a centerfielder.
But he hit a career-best 36 home runs, several of the tape-measure variety. He hit a 489-foot home run that landed in the fountain in Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
"The power was definitely up," Trout said. "It's the hard work you do in the off-season, getting a little older, a little stronger."
Trout's average dropped to .287 and his strikeouts increased from 136 in 2013 to a league-high 184 in 2014.
"It's being a little anxious," Trout said of his increased strikeouts. "I was trying to do too much, swinging at those pitches. The majority of them were balls.
"It's a matter of calming down, controlling your emotions. It's definitely something you can learn from."
Trout still is known around Millville as "Mikey." His popularity in his hometown and among baseball fans around the world springs from his soft-spoken manner and the boyish enthusiasm with which he plays the game as well as his spectacular feats on the field.
Trout normally doesn't display much emotion in public. But he seemed overwhelmed immediately after the award was announced.
"He's not a numbers guy, not a me-first guy," said Millville baseball coach Roy Hallenbeck, who has remained close with his former star player and his family. "But you could tell how much it meant to him. It was hard to watch, seeing him getting choked up like that.
"I had a lump in my throat."
-- Contact Phil Anastasia at panastasia@phillynews.com
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