Is Mike Trout Cooling Off?

In 2012, Mike Trout has yet to go into a slump. That’s pretty strange. All players have a poor string of games. Look at Albert Pujols horrid April or Jered Weaver’s May 12th start against Texas. It happens to the best of them. It happens to all of them.

Which means it can be assumed that at some point Mike Trout will go from god-like to a mere exceptional mortal, right? Right?

This may be the month it happens. After winning player of the month and rookie of the month for July and strengthening his hold as the largely considered  favorite for AL MVP, Trout has “cooled off” a bit in August.

Notice those quotations marks? They are there because Trout is still putting up solid numbers with a .273/.390/.485 line and an OPS of .895. While those numbers are good, they are still a drop-off from Trout’s season numbers of .345/.409/.597 and an OPS of 1.005.

Baseball season is long and grueling and August is the dog-days of summer. Last year, after finishing off the season with the Angels, Trout went on to play winter ball in the Arizona league and struggled. In 106 ABs he put up .245/.279/.321 line and struck out 33 times with just five walks. Most reports cited Trout as looking tired from a long stretch of baseball and that that it shouldn’t be of concern. Clearly, those reports were accurate as Trout has done Mickey Mantle-like historic things in 2012.

However, least we forget that Trout has just turned 21 and has never played a full major league season. Oh, and in case you forgot, he is also human…we think.

With 51 games to play the Angels are 7 games back from the Rangers and one game behind from a wild card spot, a struggling Trout could spell doom for the Angels. Let’s hope this mild August start is just a hiccup and not a sign of things to come for the remainder of the season.