Following a week in which he set a career-best in single-game RBIs and reached base in all seven games played, Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout was named the American League's player of the week Monday.
Trout batted .483 (14 for 29) with a remarkable 1.421 on-base-plus-slugging percentage last week. He drove in 10 runs, seven of them on one night in Toronto, and provided the bulk of the Angels' offense as they finished an 11-game road trip with four wins in their final seven games.
The perennial all-star and MVP candidate is in the midst of another career year at the plate. With only 48% of the season behind him, Trout has provided 5.3 wins above replacement, according to Fangraphs' version of the statistic. He has improved his already stellar plate discipline, making contact on 86.3% of the pitches he's swung at and only whiffing on 4.6% of his swings. Both are career bests.
Trout, who leads the AL in OPS (1.108) and is second in the league in home runs (22), has been recognized twice this season. He was named player of the week April 8, a day after hitting a home run five times in a four-game span and completing a series against the Texas Rangers with a 2.631 OPS. Only two players in baseball history had assembled a better figure in a four-game series: Babe Ruth (3.111 vs. Detroit on June 11-14, 1921) and Mickey Mantle (2.850 vs. Kansas City on July 2-4, 1962).
Until this year, Trout had not earned player of the week honors since 2015.
