The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Trout finds leading in HRs is not enough
Three-time MVP tries to figure it out amid slumps, a young club.
ANAHEIM, CALIF. — Mike Trout is the first player in the major leagues this season to reach 10 home runs. What the Los Angeles Angels slugger really wants is more consistency at the plate.
Trout’s solo shot during the sixth inning of Wednesday’s 6-5 loss to Baltimore marked the third time since 2018 he has been the first to reach double digits in homers. It also was the second time this season he has gone deep in multiple games.
However, the three-time AL MVP is batting .237, on pace for the lowest batting average going into May in his 14-year big league career.
That’s quite a change from the past three seasons, when Trout had a .347 average in March and April. In 2021, he his average was .425 on May 1.
“Some of the at-bats I feel really good and some of the at-bats just trying to figure some stuff out,” Trout said after Wednesday’s game. “I’m just trying to put a full game together.”
Trout was batting .306 through the Halos’ first 13 games but has struggled at the plate since. He was 8-for-48 with 14 strikeouts over the past 12 games. Half of his hits since April 13 have been home runs.
He has also gone nine straight games without having at least two hits.
“When it feels right, I barrel the ball. When it doesn’t feel right, I foul it off or get jammed a little bit,” Trout said.
The Angels have lost nine of 12 after a 7-6 start in Ron Washington’s first season as manager.
Trout joined Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield as one of the few players to hit at least 10 home runs in his team’s first 25 games three times. In 2018 and ’20, Trout had Shohei Ohtani hitting behind him.
Washington is continuing to juggle his lineup as he searches for the right combination in back of Trout.
Trout began the year batting third, but he was moved up to second after 15 games when the first and second hitters in the lineup had a combined .195 average. Trout hit leadoff after Anthony Rendon was placed on the injured list this week due to a hamstring strain.
Wednesday marked the first time since 2012 he has batted at the top of the lineup in consecutive games.
“It’s still the same approach. I don’t care where I hit. Maybe I get five more at-bats compared to the three hole,” Trout said.
Batting leadoff though has been Trout’s best spot. He is a career .321 leader in that spot, 21 points higher than his career average. He is a .296 hitter when in the second spot and .305 when batting third.
Washington said moving Trout up in the order was more about getting the rest of the offense going.
“Mike is only human, he can have off times just like everyone else,” Washington said. “I thought if I can put him up there and he can give us a swing of the bat like he did Tuesday night, I’m not looking for that every night, but he has the capability to give us a run when swinging the bat.”
Trout is trying to keep an upbeat approach, especially with a young club. Despite their recent struggles and a 10-13 mark, the Angels are only three games behind Seattle in the AL West.
If Los Angeles is going to begin making up ground though, it needs to start playing better at home. They are 3-6 at The Big A and have dropped their three home series. It is their worst start at home since 2016, also 3-6.
The Angels open a three-game series against Minnesota on Friday and host Philadelphia for a three-game set before heading back on the road.
“I think the mindset is keep coming and working, things will turn. Guys are battling, it’s just not going our way right now,” Trout said. “We’re going to be in different situations every night and we learn from it. Things will turn.”
Every surprise and twist of the 2024 NFL Draft’s first round pointed in the same direction. The Falcons used the eighth pick to draft Kirk Cousins’ backup. The Jets declined to add a skill player for Aaron Rodgers. The Giants didn’t attempt to solve their quarterback issue, but the Broncos did. The many disparate decisions were united by a common theme: Even when teams zagged from what was expected, they still wound up drafting for offense. Offense, offense, offense. So. Much. Offense. Thursday night provided the most lopsided first round in NFL history. The first 14 picks were offensive players, a streak broken when the Indianapolis Colts took UCLA edge rusher Laiatu Latu. By night’s end, the 23 offensive players chosen in the first round shattered the previous mark of 19, set in 1968 and tied in 20024 and ’09. Six quarterbacks were chosen in the first 12 picks; only nine defensive players were taken in the first round.
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Even after a season in which scoring dropped and the Chiefs rode their defense to a Super Bowl, the NFL doubled down on the era’s heavy skew toward offense. Naturally, quarterbacks led the way. The 1983 record of six first-round quarterbacks gained company, and quarterbacks were drafted with the first three picks (Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye) for the fourth time.
The eighth pick provided both the shock of the draft and a symbol of the NFL’s desperation for offense. Bereft of pass rushers and defensive playmakers, having signed Cousins for $45 million a season, the Falcons seemed like the ideal candidate to break the offensive stranglehold. The latest a defensive player ever had come off the board was eighth, when cornerback Jaycee Horn got picked in 2021.
The Falcons scoffed at logic and drafted quarterback Michael Penix Jr. They appeared to be in win-now mode after the Cousins signing, especially in the lightweight NFC South. And yet they drafted a quarterback with every defensive player available.
If the Raiders entered the night hoping to draft a quarterback with Gardner Minshew atop their depth chart, they were wondering what the heck happened when their pick arrived at 13. Only 12 selections happened before their turn, and six had been quarterbacks after the Broncos took Bo Nix with the 12th pick. The Raiders went to the quarterback store and found empty shelves.
Of note: Three of the six quarterbacks taken in the first round in 1983 — John Elway, Jim Kelly and Dan Marino — became Hall of Famers.
The draft annually provides both a judgment of a college class and a snapshot of how the league approaches roster construction. The extreme offensive tilt of this first round reflected both. The record offensive output is partly happenstance owing to the particular players available. But it also indicates what NFL teams value and how players are selected for positions in the broader football landscape.
Multiple data points suggest breaking the 20-offensive-player barrier may be more fluke than trend. Only two years ago, the first five picks were defenders. Even last year, when quarterbacks were taken with the first two picks, defensive players were chosen third, fifth and seventh. If it’s a trend, it’s starting now.
This year’s draft class also was unique. It matched ample quarterback-needy teams (like always) with a confluence of quarterbacks talented and experienced enough to justify a first-round pick (which rarely happens). After the NFL struggled for years to find capable offensive linemen, this year produced a surplus; there were nine taken in round one. Eight were tackles, which tied a firstround record set in 2008.
Meanwhile, the college game happened to generate few highend pass rushers and cornerbacks this year.
The offensive glut, though, was not purely random. NFL front offices have leaned further into positional value, almost uniformly refusing to use extensive resources — either cap space or draft capital — on positions outside of quarterback, wide receiver, offensive tackle, pass rusher and cornerback.
Simply, there are more premium offensive positions than defensive positions. No safeties or middle linebackers were chosen in the first round, and only one interior defensive lineman was taken: Byron Murphy II at pick No. 16. Murphy is regarded as a quick-footed defender who can pressure quarterbacks from the inside. Defensive linemen who specialize in run-stuffing no longer are considered firstround worthy.
The makeup of Thursday’s first round also says something about how players find their position in the sport. The best athletes are gravitating toward roles the modern game esteems most. A generation ago, Brock Bowers might have been a terrifying middle linebacker. A youth coach probably would have deployed Malik Nabers at running back. At those positions, both probably would have waited another round or two this week. As a pass-catching tight end and field-stretching wide receiver, they went 13th to the Raiders and sixth to the Giants, respectively.
Annually, it seems, NFL teams find a hugely talented wide receiver class. Seven wide receivers were taken Thursday night; that tied the first-round record set in 2004. It’s not by chance. Faster, stronger athletes were once made bell cow running backs; now, they are now split out wide.
If receivers are so plentiful, why are NFL teams not hewing to supply-and-demand tenets and waiting to draft them? Small degrees of ability at the position matter. Wide receivers frame the possibilities and limits of an offense. If a receiver can dominate single coverage or easily find space in zones, it forces changes to what a defense can do. It’s the inverse of how a great pass rusher can disrupt an offense with his presence alone.
Sure, the Giants could have waited a round and taken, say, Oregon’s Troy Franklin — who wasn’t drafted in the first round — instead of Nabers. But small differences can change an entire attack. NFL teams, more than ever, are nearly singular in their focus to find those edges on the offensive side of the ball.