Bryce Harper vs. Mike Trout

[SouthSideRyan]

Trout became the youngest player ever to have a multi-HR game

 

Not if you count the playoffs.

[KingKongvs.Godzilla]

Not if you count the playoffs.

 

I specifically remember the game, the player, the pitcher, the season, the series...

[sneakypower]

lost in the Trout hype, Peter Bourjos is very quietly producing like a superstar player

 

in just 641 MLB PA, he's registered 5.9 WAR (Adrian Gonzalez is at 5.7 WAR in 601 PA for the season)

 

and in the 2nd half, he's hitting .298/.351/.556. with his off-the-charts superlative defense, he could absolutely be a viable candidate hitting just .300/.350/.475

[Clem Fandango]

lost in the Trout hype, Peter Bourjos is very quietly producing like a superstar player

 

in just 641 MLB PA, he's registered 5.9 WAR (Adrian Gonzalez is at 5.7 WAR in 601 PA for the season)

 

and in the 2nd half, he's hitting .298/.351/.556. with his off-the-charts superlative defense, he could absolutely be a viable candidate hitting just .300/.350/.475

 

Fangraphs is placing his value at $18.3 million so far this season. His offensive numbers are really good, but not elite, but considering that he has such a high value and WAR placed on him, I imagine his defense is second to none? I have not seen any highlights of him so I wouldn't know, I'm just assuming he's arguably (or unarguably) the best OF defender in all of baseball?

[Derwood]

Trout became the youngest player ever to have a multi-HR game

 

Not if you count the playoffs.

 

I'm just repeating something they said on MLB Network. Are you saying that Mitch Williams or Dan Plesac might be wrong?

[sneakypower]

lost in the Trout hype, Peter Bourjos is very quietly producing like a superstar player

 

in just 641 MLB PA, he's registered 5.9 WAR (Adrian Gonzalez is at 5.7 WAR in 601 PA for the season)

 

and in the 2nd half, he's hitting .298/.351/.556. with his off-the-charts superlative defense, he could absolutely be a viable candidate hitting just .300/.350/.475

 

Fangraphs is placing his value at $18.3 million so far this season. His offensive numbers are really good, but not elite, but considering that he has such a high value and WAR placed on him, I imagine his defense is second to none? I have not seen any highlights of him so I wouldn't know, I'm just assuming he's arguably (or unarguably) the best OF defender in all of baseball?

hard to say definitively with limited data, but it's certainly a defensible position

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/a-critique-of-peter-bourjos-mlb-com-highlight-reel/

 

In their most recent Prospect Handbook, Baseball America calls Bourjos’ defense “game-changing,” and the numbers agree: per Total Zone, Bourjos was worth +76 runs in 360 games started in center field 2006 to 2009.

 

for the past two seasons, only Brett Gardner has been graded better by UZR, but it's worth noting as a LF he's being measured against some of the absolute worst fielders in the game like Ibanez and Carlos Lee

[TruffleShuffle]

yeah, everything i've read about bourjos has him as an elite defensive cf. the question about him was his bat - his minor league line was .293/.346/.452/.799, which seems nice, but the angels have some crazy offensive environments in their minor league system - rancho cucumonga in the california league and salt lake city in the pcl, especially (arkansas in the texas league is also hitter friendly, though not as much as the other two places). his strike zone discipline isn't especially good, but with his elite defense in cf, the offensive bar is very low for him to be a productive player.

 

as for trout, he went 3-4 tonight and has an .861 ops in the majors in about 85 plate appearances. here's the angels' OF situation:

 

bourjos - young and under team control for a few more years

trout - same as bourjos

torii hunter - overpaid and has been pretty ordinary this year. due $18m in 2012 and has a no-trade clause.

vernon wells - albatross contract that the angels inexplicably took on last offseason; has been bad this year and is due $21m each of the next three years.

 

then there are a couple of odds and ends like reggie willits, guys who are 4th/5th OF at best.

 

since the AL has the DH, their situation there - bobby abreu, who's still getting on base at a solid clip but has seen his power completely evaporate. hard to see the angels picking up his $9m option ($8m buyout) given the other choices in house. there's also the possibility that kendrys morales comes back to play... he got almost $3m this year to not play, but he was a very good hitter before the injury and i suspect the angels will resign him if it looks like he can get healthy. if he can play, then he'd probably become the DH and trumbo plays 1b. but i would guess that after missing so much time, they figure anything they can get out of morales is gravy.

 

it would probably be smart to kick the tires on bourjos and see if they undervalue his defense. they could have 4 outfielders for 3 spots next year, with trout certainly looking like he's ready. i doubt it would work, but they were dumb enough to trade a good catcher (napoli) for a guy with one of the worst contracts in the game, so you never know.

[Outshined_One]

Not if you count the playoffs.

 

I specifically remember the game, the player, the pitcher, the season, the series...

 

1996 World Series, Game 1, Andruw Jones, Andy Pettitte/Brian Boerhinger?