Slumping out of the gate
The frustration is typically more subtle, but when Mark Trumbo popped up to the catcher with two on and one out in the sixth inning Sunday, and flung his bat to the ground in disgust, it didn’t stand out to manager Buck Showalter.
It’s early, but Trumbo, the majors’ reigning home run king, isn’t replicating that success so far in 2017. Showalter said the level of concern for the team’s biggest offseason signing isn’t high for precisely the reason that frustration exists.
“Mark’s pretty hard on himself,” Showalter said. “He could hit 10 line drives in a row, and the 11th one … he expects good things from himself every time up. That’s part of the reason why we like him so much. Mark never says, ‘That’s good enough.’ He’s always putting himself in a ‘What have you done for me lately?’ mode, and I’ve seen him frustrated after two home runs and just missing a pitch the next time up.
“Mark is very driven for perfection in a world that you just can’t do it [in]. But yeah, he gets frustrated, especially with some pitches he should have done more with or when he lets them expand the zone.”
Trumbo entered Tuesday night’s game with just one home run — the 11th-inning walk-off shot he hit Opening Day — and just four extra-base hits to his name. A second straight 0-for-4 night against the Rays, on the back of a 1-for-11 series against the Boston Red Sox, dropped his batting line to .203/.244/.284 through 19 games. It’s a far cry from last year’s league-leading home run year, when through the same number of games Trumbo was batting .366 with five home Five Tampa Bay pitchers combine to hold Orioles to two hits