Scherzer has little trouble hooking Trout
Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout is considered in some circles to be the best baseball player on the planet.
There’s certainly an argument to be made. Trout, 26, is a twotime American League MVP and had never finished lower than fourth in the Most Valuable Player vote. He’s also off to an across-the-board good start to this season, batting .331 in 36 games with 12 home runs and 25 RBI. Trout also boasts a .451 onbase percentage, a .692 slugging percentage and a 1.143 OPS (onbase plus slugging).
Trout sat down with Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports for an MLB podcast and talked about a number of topics, ranging from teammates Albert Pujols and Shohei Ohtani, what he loves about baseball and Trout put together an NFL roster of baseball players.
He also discussed the one pitcher he just can’t figure out, and it’s a guy he hasn’t had to face in a while.
“When [Max] Scherzer was with Detroit,” Trout said. “I’m happy he went to the NL.
“He’s got unbelievable stuff, obviously, with the Cy Young awards. He’s just an athlete on the mound. He’s a grinder. You see his emotion out there. He competes. I like guys who go out there and leave it all on the line.”
The numbers support Scherzer owning Trout. In 16 at-bats against Scherzer, Trout has struck out 10 times and has only three hits. One of those hits is a home run, at least. There are only 10 pitchers in all of Major League Baseball who have ever struck out Trout 10 times and Scherzer is the only one to do it in fewer than 20 atbats.
Despite his lack of success against Scherzer, Trout still put him on his NFL roster of baseball players.
Out of order
In an embarrassing moment, the New York Mets were called for batting out of order in the first inning of Wednesday’s 2-1, 10-inning loss to the Cincinnati Reds, negating a two-out double by Asdrubal Cabrera.
As Jay Bruce stepped into the batter’s box, home plate umpire Gabe Morales declared the inning over. According to the official scorer, the Mets gave Morales a lineup card that showed Cabrera batting second and Wilmer Flores third. But Flores and Cabrera batted in the opposite order.
Cabrera’s double was erased from the box score, and Bruce was called out, with a putout to the catcher.
According to Mike Axisa of CBSSports.com, the Mets gave everyone the lineup they wanted to use — with Flores batting second and Cabrera third — except the umpires, who are the only guys who matter. MLB rule 6.03(b)(3) explains it all.
“When an improper batter becomes a runner or is put out, and the defensive team appeals to the umpire before the first pitch to the next batter of either team, or before any play or attempted play, the umpire shall (1) declare the proper batter out; and (2) nullify any advance or score made because of a ball batted by the improper batter or because of the improper batter’s advance to first base on a hit, an error, a base on balls, a hit batter or otherwise,” the rule states.
Following the first-inning mishap, the lineup reverted back to the official batting order, with Cabrera batting second and Flores third.