It took three times to capture his first AL MVP award, but Mike Trout has done it. The young superstar from Millville, New Jersey added the most prestigious individual award MLB offers to his list of accolades when he captured all 30 first place votes to claim the 2014 AL Most Valuable Player award. Mike Trout who finished runner-up each of the last two seasons in the MVP voting, became the first player since Cal Ripken, Jr. (1991) to win the All-Star MVP and regular season MVP in the same season. Mike Trout also became the youngest player in MLB history to win the MVP in unanimous fashion.
The 2014 season shows both how unlucky Mike Trout was in 2012 and 2013 not to win the MVP, but also how incredible he is after winning the MVP in 2014, which was likely his least impressive season. He led the way in Runs and Total Bases but his strikeouts increased, while his batting average and stolen bases decreased. He went on to drive in 111 Runs and hit 36 home runs (both career bests) while playing outstanding defense and causing havoc for opposing teams on the base paths.
Mike Trout has now played three full seasons in the big leagues and his accomplishments are breathtaking. He is already a 3x All-Star, a 3x Silver Slugger winner, a ROY winner, an All-Star MVP, a 2x AL MVP runner-up and an AL MVP. So what’s next for Trout? Well, only time will tell.
The Angels will enter the 2015 season as postseason contenders and the 23-year old phenom will be the favorite to capture another MVP award next year.