What makes Mike Trout

baseball's most perfect

player

Theres a lot to watch in any given game.

What if we focused on one player, at one position, over a full nine innings? For
this, we turned our eyes to the best player in baseball, Los Angeles
Angelscenter fielder Mike Trout.
The LeBron of baseball
Comparing the careers of Mike Trout and LeBron James:
TROUT JAMES

Seasons 7 14

MVPs 2 4

Led League
3 5
in WAR/Win Shares

On May 19, we headed to Citi Field with the primary purpose of tracking Trout.
If you want to watch the perfect player -- the LeBron James of his sport -- he's
the one to pick. Nine days after we watched Trout, he tore a ligament in his
thumb and missed nearly two months. When he returned, he didn't skip a beat.
Part of the beauty of watching Trout is confirming what so many observers tell
us about him: hes the same player every single day.
"He is just the most consistent hitter, defender, player that plays baseball right
now, says Sunday Night Baseball analyst Jessica Mendoza. "He can do it all, all
the time. I would tell someone watching him, 'Try to find a mistake.'"

What did we find when we watched Trout before, during and after a game, at
bat, in the field and on the bases? Spoiler alert: We didnt find any mistakes, but
we did get a good feel for what makes the two-time American League MVP
great.

Batting practice

If he wanted it to be, Trouts batting practice could be among the most thrilling
in baseball. But for the 26-year-old, its not about entertainment.

Getting loose, working different things, working the other way, shooting the
gaps, pulling the ball, feeling how your swing is, Trout says, running through
his decidedly practical BP checklist.
In the first couple rounds, we see him hit a ball or two to the opposite field, and
one on the ground in the hole between shortstop and third base. He takes maybe
one big cut. In contrast, the hitter before him, Cameron Maybin, whacks away,
going deep multiple times and hitting some mammoth shots to left center.
"He is just the most consistent hitter,
defender, player that plays baseball right
now. He can do it all, all the time. I would
tell someone watching him, 'Try to find a
mistake.'"
Jessica Mendoza, ESPN MLB analyst, on Mike Trout
The young kids in the front-row seats in left field call out Trout! when its his
turn again, but theyre in the wrong spot. Trout's final three hacks look easy and
effortless, but the ball soars -- one off the facing of the third deck and another
off the facing of the second deck, on back-to-back swings. These are the shots
you'd expect from someone like Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton.
With that, Trouts pregame hitting is done, and it's like clockwork. One scout
told us beforehand to expect this exact sequence of events, that its all part of
Trout's plan.

Thats what the best do every day, the scout said.

What we learned: If he really wanted to, Trout could probably hit a home run
as far as Judge did at Citi Field last Wednesday, a monster shot into the third
deck measured at a stingy 457 feet. Instead, he has other priorities.

Preparing for an at-bat

AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

Trout watches the hitter before him from a step in front of the on-deck circle.
Before each pitch, he takes two phantom swings. When its his turn, its a 15-
step walk to the plate.

King Mike
Where Trout ranks in all of MLB, since 2011:
BA .309 5th

OBP .410 2nd

Slug Pct .568 1st

OPS .978 1st

He gets in the batter's box, lightly taps both the plate umpire and the catcher
with his bat as a way of saying "hello." He then positions himself, his back foot
touching the back corner of the box closest to home plate. Hes brave enough to
stand close, but smart enough to stand at the back of the box, giving him the
most time to see, and react to, a pitch.

Trout is 6-foot-2, 235 pounds. Hes big, perhaps even linebacker-like, but he's
not huge. His stance is menacing, though. He holds his hands out in front of his
head and moves the bat back and forth, almost as if hes starting to swing an
axe. It's a more intimidating look than Trout had circa 2012, when he kept his
hands behind his head, less visible to the pitcher.

It also helps him get into a rhythm with his timing, so he can turn on pitches
and hit them a long way.

What we learned: The Trout pre-pitch routine is equal parts setup and
intimidation. It provides him confidence. Right now, Mike is really comfortable
in the box, Angels manager Mike Scioscia tells reporters.

Swinging away

Adam Sherr, a 46-year-old attorney from Anaheim who now lives in Seattle, is
in the Big Apple celebrating his 20th anniversary with his wife, Annette. He's at
Citi Field specifically to see Trout. Sherr is 46 and can queue up an article on
Trout from FiveThirtyEight on his phone at a moments notice, but part of him
is still a 16-year-old, crushed as he watched his Angels blow the 1986 American
League pennant against the Boston Red Sox. He says he loves watching Trout
hit.

Wait For It ...

MLB players with a walk rate of at least 13 percent, and a home run rate of 4 percent
or more, since 2011:
BB RATE HR RATE

Joey Votto 18% 4%

Jose Bautista 16% 5%

Paul Goldschmidt 14% 4%

Bryce Harper 14% 5%

Mike Trout 14% 5%

A beautiful, short swing, Sherr says. Its amazing how he can pull his hands
back and turn on a ball. He can do that and he can do the Vladimir Guerrero --
hit a ball on the bounce over the fence.
Trout doesnt get to do much with the pitches that bounce in this game. He does
swing at a pair on the outer edge of the plate, though, and gets hits on both, one
to left field and one to right center. His reach with his bat extends as far as he
wants.

A scout says that when he watches Trout, he figures out how to contain the
least amount of damage he can do. A couple days earlier, Trout had homered
on a down-and-in pitch from White Sox starter Anthony Swarzak that seemed
almost impossible to hit out of the park.
Another scout marvels at how Trout "fires his hips so quickly. He has great
strength and great timing.

In this case, the least amount of damage is two solid singles -- one to right
center, one to left. Trout takes wide turns around first base for each, forcing a
good throw to second from the outfield. He claps his hands together once, the
same way both times, and offers a fist-bump to first base coach Alfredo Griffin.

Those hits (both with no one on base), a walk and a strikeout feel like a win to
Mets manager Terry Collins, who, when speaking after the game of how his
pitchers handled Trout, says simply:

They did a good job.

What we learned: If you keep Trout in the ballpark, youve done a good job. If
youve kept him off base, youve performed a baseball miracle. But the measure
of a win is in whether you can avoid having his performance be the difference
between victory and defeat. On this day, the Mets win 3-0.

Disagreeing with an umpire

Trout has never been ejected from a game. During his pregame media gathering,
he speaks reverentially about Derek Jeter and carrying the mantle of being a
face of the game. Jeter, too, was never ejected from a game.
That doesnt mean Trout doesnt have his moments.

In the fifth inning, Mets starter Jacob deGrom throws a 95-mph fastball on a
2-1 count. Its a little more than a baseballs width off the plate, but its in a spot
that, amazingly enough, is called a strike 49.9 percent of the time. Umpire Phil
Cuzzi calls one here.
Trout takes a step back and shakes his head. You cant see it from the stands,
but on television they show him scrunching his face. He steps back in the box.
DeGrom strikes him out on the next pitch, one at the top edge of the strike zone.
The 50-50 call turned out to be an at-bat changer.

"He does certain things that seem

impossible, but he makes them look so
easy. All those home runs he robs. It
seems like no other human being could
do it, but he makes it look like every
baseball player could be able to do it."
Baseball fan Jack Ramsay, 14
Trout goes back to the dugout. Hes perturbed, but still in the game.

"Don't let one at-bat affect you," Trout says later.

Following that mantra, Trout doesnt let calls bother him. In the sixth inning,
Trout falls behind deGrom 0-2, but after three foul balls and three takes, the last
of which is a wild pitch that advances the runner to second, Collins concedes. He
orders something that happens in baseball about once a year -- an intentional
walk during an at-bat that had started 0-2.

I dont expand my zone for anything, Trout says. I keep the same approach.
Im looking for a pitch in a particular zone. If I dont get it, Ill take the walk.

What we learned: Trout doesnt do distractions. Once a moment is over, its

on to the next one.

Playing the outfield

Watching from the stands, you'll notice Trout plays a deep center field. He even
plays deep for the opposing pitcher.

Angel, er, devil in the outfield

Most home run robberies, since 2011:
Mike Trout 10

Carlos Gomez 7

Jay Bruce 6

Justin Upton 6

Mookie Betts 6

In three games at Citi Field over that weekend, Trouts average starting position
is 330 feet from home plate. Thats 12 feet deeper than the average for the next-
deepest center fielder against the Mets, Christian Yelich.
Playing that deep helps him make highlight-reel plays -- and inspires 14-year-
old ballplayers in the stands, like Jack Ramsey from Southington, Connecticut,
to call him slick.

He does certain things that seem impossible, but he makes them look so easy,
Ramsey says. All those home runs he robs. It seems like no other human being
could do it, but he makes it look like every baseball player could be able to do it.

This is an easy night for Trout in the field. He catches one harmless can of corn
during which he barely budges. But you can see the flashes of what makes him a
good defender on balls hit into each of the gaps. These are hard-hit but clearly
catchable for the left fielder, Maybin, and the right fielder, Kole Calhoun. Still,
Trout is right there to back up both or, if they stumble, to make the play himself.
There doesnt seem like [there's] a ball he cant get to, Sherr says. Im
impressed by his speed and his instinctive response to where the ball is going to
be and his youthful enjoyment after he makes a great catch.

What we learned: Though Trout often ranks as average or even below

average in outfield metrics, that might be a product of where he plays rather
than how he plays. The Angels appear to have prioritized snagging long extra-
base hits at the expense of giving up a few extra singles, knowing Trout can get
to some deep-hit balls others cant.

Running the bases

One of the things we were hoping to see was Trout run the bases, or attempt to
break up a double play, because since 2012 he has the best baserunning stats in
baseball, per Fangraphs, whose version combines base stealing, base-stealing
efficiency, and frequency of taking extra bases on hits.

He gets around
Trout's MLB ranks on the base paths, since 2011:
SB 11th

SB Pct 4th

Runs 1st

Alas, no such situations occur. There is a normal-speed run to second base on an

infield hit, but nothing eye-popping.

On this day, his leads are short, which makes sense given deGrom had allowed
only 17 steals in 32 attempts in his career at the time, and Trout is not long back
from a hamstring injury. So we miss out on watching him at his best.

What we learned: Trout knows how to pick his spots.

The whole package

In the NBA and NFL, stars make highlight-reel plays every game. But in
baseball, you have to be patient.

God of WAR
MLB WAR leaders, among position players, since 2011:
Mike Trout 54.0

Robinson Cano 41.5

Adrian Beltre 40.9

Joey Votto 38.2

Miguel Cabrera 37.2

To appreciate Mike, its not the sensational, Scioscia says. Its what he does
on a daily basis. He plays defense. The way he runs the bases. Combine that with
what he does in the batters box, never taking a pitch or play off. That maturity
has made Mike do what hes done so far in his career. What you see every day is
a guy who isnt chasing numbers. Hes playing the game to win, [and] does
whatever he needs to do on the field to help us win.

Or to look at it another way: Youre not going to see everything Trout does on
any given day. But he keeps you coming back for more.