Mike Trout Honored with MVP Award Prior to Win

While the team did not achieve much in 2016, Mike Trout still brought home some hardware. Mike Trout, who was honored with his second Most Valuable Player award before first pitch last night as well as his 5th Silver Slugger Award.

Mike Trout has enjoyed a great start to his 2017 campaign to follow up a 2016 in which he hit .315 with 29 homeruns and 100 RBI’s. He had career-highs in walks(116) and on-base percentage(.441), while tying his career-high in on-base plus slugging percentage(.991).

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These numbers also earned him his fifth consecutive Silver Slugger Award. He joins Mike Piazza as the only two players in MLB history to win the award in each of their first five full seasons. He also passed Vladimir Guerrero previous record of four for the most in Angels history.

Trout’s second MVP puts him in elite company. Trout joins Johnny Bench, Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial and Hal Newhouser as the only players in MLB history to win two MVP’s before their age 25 season (Elias Sports Bureau). He joined Barry Bonds as the only players to ever finish five straight seasons in the top-two in MVP voting. Trout, however, is the first to do it in his first five seasons.

Many believed Trout did not deserve the award due to the Angels’ lackluster season. However, he was still able to become the first player to win the award on a non-playoff team since 2003, when Alex Rodriguez won the award while on an awful Rangers team.

The ceremony itself was great. Trout was given a commemorative ring of his 2016 excellence from Angels’ owner Arte Moreno. Trout was joined on the field by his parents and fiancee, Jessica. He then gave a short speech to the Angels faithful. Trout thanked management, coaches, family, teammates, and the fans. He then reassured Angel fans that he, along with the team, has bigger things in mind for the 2017 season.

“We got a great group of guys,” Trout said, in an interview with MLB.Com’s Maria Guardado.  “its early in the season but we’re trying to bring that ring back to Anaheim.”

Next: Trout is honored and leads Angels to win.

Trout’s career is missing one thing, and that is a playoff run. He got his first taste of it in 2014, but was swept by the Kansas City Royals. He hopes to lead the Angels much further this season. They have been successful thus far, and hope to enjoy a solid 2017 campaign.