Petriello: Mike Trout somehow got better on defense; this is how
From Mike Petriello at MLB.com on May 30, 2018:
Every time you think that we’ve reached “peak Mike Trout,” that there’s not anything baseball’s greatest player could do better, he does something better. A few years ago, there was an argument that he wasn’t a true “five-tool player” because he didn’t have a strong throwing arm. It got better. Then word came that Trout had a weakness hitting high fastballs. He fixed it. After an 11-steal season in 2015, Trout said he’d set a “personal goal” to improve. He swiped 30 in ’16.
You don’t get to be the best player alive if you aren’t always trying to get better, and this year, his focus was defense. For all the highlight-reel catches, Trout hasn’t actually been rated all that highly by defensive metrics over the past few years. It’s been the only minor flaw on an otherwise spotless resume.
“There are a lot of defensive metrics out there you want to get better on,” said Trout to MLB.com in February.
Read the full article here: https://www.mlb.com/angels/news/mike-trout-has-improved-his-defense-in-center/c-278810936
Originally published: May 30, 2018. Last Updated: May 30, 2018.