Major League Baseball was center stage on FOX last night for the 83rd edition of the All-Star Game in Kansas City.  The game was a blowout for the National League, winning 8-0, but the American League did see one All-Star stand out - South Jersey's favorite son Mike Trout.

SoJO 104.9 has been following the success of the former Millville High School star this season, and last night was a coming out party for the rest of the country to know what we here have known for a while - Mike Trout is a special ball player!

The American League last night was held to 6 hits, and Trout had one of them.  His 2 All-Star at-bats saw him get a hit off the most difficult pitcher in baseball today, then draw a walk against the hardest throwing pitcher in baseball today.

Trout got a base hit off of R.A. Dickey of the New York Mets, the man who has mastered the knuckle-ball (a pitch that sees the ball with no rotation, and moves everywhere).  Dickey has proven he can change speeds with the most difficult pitch to hit.  Trout stayed patient and showed why he leads the American League in hitting (.341 batting average).

Mike's 2nd plate appearance was against Aroldis Chapman of the Cincinnati Reds - the man who has been clock as fast as 104 MPH with his fastball.  Chapman was hitting 101 on the radar gun last night, but Trout did not bite and worked out a walk.

Twice on base, and a stolen base (he leads the AL with 26 steals) for a squad that looked defeated after the 1st inning (trailing 5-0) makes Trout the obvious MVP for the losing squad.  The man who was not even on the All-Star voting ballot seemed to be the only one hustling when the team was losing 8-0, a characteristic that best represents the 20-yr-old.  "I'm going to remember this the rest of my life," Trout said after the experience.

The Los Angeles Angels owe the success of 2012 to Mike Trout, and they need him to continue this amazing season if the team is going to get the World Series - the place most experts predicted they would be this season.

Now that Mike Trout has become an All-Star, is the league's Most Valuable Player award in his future?  You hate to put that pressure on this kid, but so far he has handled so much so quickly - proving once again why he is a special ball player.

 

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