After being widely considered a Top 2 candidate for the American League MVP, Mike Trout‘s Rookie of the Year honor was a foregone conclusion.
Now, it’s official. Trout was named AL Rookie of the Year in a unanimous vote by the BBWAA. Trout is the second Angels player to be named Rookie of the Year — Tim Salmon also won in 1993.
Trout hit .326 with 30 home runs and 83 RBIs in 139 games with Los Angeles. He led the league in stolen bases with 49 and runs with 129. He had a .963 OPS. Trout also played strong defensively in center field, though he was snubbed for a Gold Glove in favor of the Orioles Adam Jones.
The AL MVP will come down to Trout and Triple Crown winner, Miguel Cabrera. While Cabrera led the league in the three primary traditional statistics — home runs, RBIs and batting average — Trout is the sabermetrics darling after leading the league in WAR and OPS+. Even if Trout can’t come away with the MVP award, he’ll still have some hardware to add to his trophy case.
Photo via Facebook/MikeTroutFans
