Trout’s arm gets spotlight moment
Kole Calhoun remembers a moment not long ago when Angels teammate Mike Trout came up to him to brag.
It is not an uncommon occurrence. Trout, a fiery competitor, has a quick trigger finger when it comes to flaunting his many talents.
On that particular evening, Trout boasted about a throw he made at Dodger Stadium. It was clocked at 93 mph, maybe the hardest Trout had ever seen a ball leave his right hand.
A few years later, in the Angels’ 5-4 win over the Dodgers on Tuesday night, Trout outdid himself.
Corey Seager lined a basehit up the middle in the second inning of a game the Angels led 1-0. Max Muncy took off from second base on contact, trying to score the tying run.
Trout charged the ball, gloved it and fired to catcher Dustin Garneau in one fluid motion. Garneau received the throw and tagged Muncy just before his cleats crossed the plate.
After the play was upheld by replay and Angels pitcher Felix Pena escaped the inning unscathed, Trout caught a glimpse of a replay. Emblazoned across the images of his throw was “98.6 mph.” He went to Calhoun to share the news.
“It’s definitely my hardest,” Trout said after the game, fighting back a grin.
“That’s 5 more mph,” Calhoun marveled. “He’s an unbelievable defender. We’ve all watched him throughout the years get better and better.”
Earlier this decade, when he was on the cusp of becoming a perennial candidate for the league’s most-valuable-player award and a three-time Gold Glove finalist in center field, Trout was often removed from games for defensive purposes.
In fact, the day Trout made one of the best home-run-robbing catches this decade, racing to the wall at Camden Yards in Baltimore and leaping to rob J.J. Hardy in 2012, he was replaced by Peter Bourjos.
The one knock on Trout’s elite skill set was his arm strength. The New Jersey native rarely, if ever, had the chance to work on throwing year-round during his childhood. When he entered the Angels organization at 17, his mechanics were still raw.
Trout ironed out the flaws as he matured. He adopted a long-toss routine with Calhoun. Trout’s arm strength improved, and with it his accuracy in the field. Trout seemed to reach an apex last year when he established himself among the leading candidates for a Gold Glove, the one award he has yet to win. He had eight defensive runs saved and ranked fifth in Fangraphs’ overall defensive rating among center fielders.
“Trouty has worked extremely hard [since] he first came up,” said Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel, previously a member of the Angels coaching staff for 14 years. “Everybody said he was below average to maybe average, and he worked extremely hard to prove everyone wrong. He’s got a plus arm now.”
It showed Tuesday, when Trout’s 261-foot dart came in cleanly for the third-hardestthrown outfield assist of the year, according to MLB.com’s Statcast system. Just more bragging rights. “I’m going to let some of my buddies know,” Trout said. “[Former Angel] Garrett Richards, he’s going to know about it. You know, [late teammate Tyler] Skaggs would’ve given me a hard time about it too. Just going to have fun with it.”
Short hops
With the well of major leagueready starting pitching depth running dry in the organization, manager Brad Ausmus said Wednesday he hoped the Angels would acquire a starter before the July 31 trade deadline. “That meter can go back and forth right up to before the deadline,” he said. “It’s on us, the people in uniform, to continue to win up to that point. We’ve done a nice job recently, especially since the break, but we’ve got to keep doing it.” … Rookie Jose Suarez will return to the rotation Thursday at Angel Stadium. He’ll start the series opener against the Orioles. Griffin Canning will start Friday and Pena will be preceded by an opener Sunday. The Angels have not determined who will pitch Saturday. A bullpen game might be in order.