Mike Trout smashes 40th home run of the season, reaches new milestone
Based on the amazing start to his career, it’s tough for Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout to constantly one-up himself. He found a way to do so Tuesday, reaching a new milestone. For the first time in his career, Mike Trout has hit 40 home runs in a single season.
Trout’s blast came in the top of the first inning. He jumped all over the first pitch he saw from Lance McCullers, driving a 94 mph fastball out to left center.
Not surprisingly, the hit puts Trout in some pretty impressive company.
On top of that, Trout became only the second player in Angels’ history to hit more than 40 home runs in a single season, according to Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com. Troy Glaus was able to accomplish the feat twice, smashing 47 in 2000 and 40 home runs in 2001.
The hit also gives Trout the home run lead over Josh Donaldson in the MVP race. While that probably won’t be the separating factor among the voters, the two remain virtually neck and neck with just a few games remaining. Trout holds a slight lead in both on-base percentage and slugging percentage, but Donaldson currently leads in batting average and WAR. The gap between all of those stats are exceptionally miniscule.
The Toronto Blue Jays recent surge has pushed the narrative in Donaldson’s favor. It also helps that Donaldson plays on the best offense in baseball, and, because of that, has scored and driven in an insane amount of runs this season. Trout already has an MVP award on his resume, so perhaps it’s time he let someone else take home the hardware.
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Regardless of what happens this season, Trout can hang his head high. Despite being on one of the greatest career paths of all time, the 24-year-old has found a way to set a new milestone. Seeing what he’s been able to accomplish in the past, you get the sense that this isn’t the last time he’ll cross the 40 home run threshold.
Mike Trout is awesome, is what we’re saying. And we should appreciate his superhuman baseball feats every single day.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
