Regardless of which outfield position Mike Trout is playing, his electric speed, athleticism and sheer determination to keep every baseball from hitting the ground is going to create some magical defensive plays. We saw yet another one of those during the Angels 5-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night.
With the Angels already trailing 4-0 in the fifth inning, it was obvious the Angels could ill-afford to fall behind any further against Pittsburgh's hard-throwing rookie Gerrit Cole. That fate appeared to be inevitable, however, when Gaby Sanchez ripped what looked like an easy RBI double off Jeff Weaver that was ticketed for the left field corner. Only it wasn't, because Trout covered maybe 40 yards in what felt like three seconds and then went full extension to make the spectacular catch and save the insurance run.
Considering the effort and situation, I'd give a very respectable 8 out of 10 on the Mike Trout defensive scale. Certainly it's not worthy of being immortalized in bobblehead form like his home run robbing grab in Baltimore last season. But I also think it's easy to look it and shrug it off like it's no big deal. Like we've seen it, or better, before, and this one shouldn't register on the scale.
It registered alright, because let's be honest, there are not very many outfielders with the closing speed to make that play at all, and even fewer who could make it look almost routine and amazing simultaneously.
He's just that good, folks. And he's only 21.
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