Baseball: A Two-Way Player

Chapter 680 25: The Best in the World (Part 2)

After being absent for nearly six weeks due to a torn thumb ligament, the star player of the Angels, "King Trout" Mike Trout will make his return in the upcoming series—this is certainly not good news for the Yankees, who aim to end their losing streak and reclaim their previous streak of victories.

Who is Mike Trout? Let's put it this way, if there were a perfect template for a batter in modern baseball, then Trout would be the one who comes closest to the perfect batter template of the baseball deity; he is a typical "five-tool player" with top-level skills in hitting, slugging, base running, arm strength, and defense in the Major League.

This year, Trout, who is only 25 years old, has played five complete seasons in the Major League, and his performance during this time is—

Two-time American League MVP (2014, 2016), 2012 AL Rookie of the Year, five Silver Slugger Awards, 2012 Outfield Defensive Bible, two-time All-Star Game MVP, 2014 Hank Aaron Award, and countless weekly and monthly honors.

Additionally, he holds a series of "youngest" records: youngest to achieve a .300 batting average, 30-home run and 30-stolen base season, youngest to accomplish a complete hitting achievement, poised to become the youngest holder of the 200-home run and 200-stolen base title... What's even more daunting is that, so far in his career, as long as it's a complete season, Trout's OPS never fell below .939, except for 2014, when he set his career-low.

It can be said that if it weren't for the Angels, the small team that selected him, being too weak in strength and the management lacking in operational and decision-making abilities, Trout's honors might have reached another level—considering his contract with the Angels is set to expire within the next two years, when "King Trout" enters the free agent market, many teams will undoubtedly compete to sign him.

But even being held back by the Angels, as long as Trout continues to accumulate data, his future entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame is essentially guaranteed; in the eyes of many current Major League players, he is recognized by many as the strongest player.

In other words, if the Yankees really want to take on the Los Angeles Angels and end their outrageously poor status quo, then dealing with this "best player of the day" is their foremost consideration, even if the opponent has just returned from injury.

On June 20, 2017, outside Angel Stadium located in Anaheim, crowds have already gathered. Thanks to Trout's return in this game and the strong appeal of the New York Yankees, even on a weekday, the stadium, which can accommodate about 45,000 fans, is completely full.

"Wow, George, what took you so long? If you came any later, the game would have started already!" Looking at his partner who was arriving late, 15-year-old Paul Skenes couldn't help but complain to him, "Do you know how hard it was to get tickets for this game today? I had to ask my dad to pull some strings to get them!"

"Sorry, sorry, Paul, my bad." The boy named George quickly apologized to his good friend, "But it's really not my fault, I left at my usual time to get to Angel Stadium, who knew the road would suddenly be so congested today? Besides locals from Anaheim, I also seem to have seen many Asian faces..."

Skenes rolled his eyes at him and slowly said, "Of course there would be a traffic jam, don't you realize how significant today's game is: 'King Trout's return match after six weeks, surely a bunch of Angels fans would come, right? The Yankees have the most fans worldwide, naturally, they'd attract many fans who aren't from New York. And have you considered, their team also features Lin—California is originally a gathering place for Asian communities, there must be a lot of fans who never had the chance to see Lin play and are coming over..."

As the two friends talked, they completed the ticket-checking procedure and entered the stadium. It has to be said, Skenes' father got him an excellent seat—a position directly behind home plate, leaning towards the visiting team player area, almost the best seating in the entire stadium for watching, allowing them to see every move of the players and conveniently ask for autographs before the game starts.

With some time left before the game begins, on the sidelines of Angel Stadium, the coaches and players of both teams were being interviewed by journalists:

On the Angels' side, the recovering Mike Trout was naturally the main focus of the journalists, who wanted to know about his condition and whether he's fully ready to return.

"My condition is great, in fact, choosing to return in this game was a mutual decision between me and the team's medical staff." Facing the camera, the battle-hardened Trout seemed quite relaxed, "Currently, our win rate is exactly fifty percent, although it might be difficult to surpass the Astros, we still have the chance to compete with other teams for a wildcard spot—I can't wait to help the team!"

"As for facing Lin head-to-head in this game..." Trout lowered his head and was silent for a moment, then responded with a confident smile, "Lin's performance this season has already proven that he is an outstanding pitcher; but... I am also an outstanding batter, I believe I will win in the end."