Los Angeles Angels: Mike Trout hits first home run of spring

Los Angeles Angels superstar Mike Trout’s first home run of the spring was a moonshot in a 4-4 tie against the Royals.

In case you were wondering, Mike Trout can still hit the baseball a very long way. I wish we had the Statcast numbers to officially measure what we saw with our eyes, a majestic home run deep into the Tempe sky.

Trout’s three-run home run gave the Angels a temporary 3-1 lead, which they would relinquish in a 4-4 tie against the Royals in one of their split-squad match-ups on Friday at Tempe Diablo Stadium. The Angels lost their other split-squad game 4-3 to the Royals in Surprize, Arizona.

Angels fans, and baseball fans, alike, have grown accustom to seeing something special from Mike Trout on a daily basis, so why should Spring Training be any different? The star center fielder is 5-15 on the 2020 spring. He is a career .352 hitter (156-for-443) with 26 homers, 30 doubles and 99 RBIs in 175 Spring Training games. And if long home runs is your thing, Trout averaged the third longest average home run distance last season among qualified hitters. As we saw yesterday, he still has the moonshot touch.

SPLIT-SQUAD NOTES

Here are a few more notable items from the Angels split-squad games yesterday:

• The Angels tied their home split-squad match-up with Kansas City 4-4. They lost their game in Surprise, Arizona against Kansas City 4-3.
• Julio Teheran was scheduled to start yesterday, but was pushed back to Saturday in what appeared to be a mix-up with the lineup card.
• Jose Suarez pitched three solid innings, striking out 4 of the 11 batters he faced, allowing his first earned run of the spring. With Griffin Canning likely to start the season on the injured list, Suarez strong spring performance could help land him a spot in the back of the rotation.
• Dillon Peters started in the Angels split-squad game in Surprise, looking sharp in three innings of work. Like Suarez, he has only allowed one earned run this spring. Over 7.1 innings, he has struck out six while walking only one batter.
• Top prospect Jo Adell got another hit yesterday. He has a .316/.350/.421 slashline in Arizona over 19 at-bats.

The Angels continue their Cactus League schedule on Saturday in Tempe against the Diamondbacks. Julio Teheran will take the hill for Los Angeles. You can watch the game on Prime Ticket starting at 12:10 PM PST.