ANAHEIM, Calif._No matter how bad things get for the Angels this season, and they still look pretty grim despite a 1-0 win over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday night, there is one very good reason for frustrated fans to come to the park: Mike Trout, the center fielder who is still in the early stages of what could be a historic career.
Trout had a relatively quiet game on a night Angels right-hander Matt Shoemaker outdueled right-hander James Shields, allowing six hits and striking out 13, a career high, and walking none for his first career shutout. Shields also threw a complete game, allowing two hits during the brisk 2-hour 20-minute affair.
Trout knocked in the run with a first-inning groundout. With his rare combination of speed, power and defense, Trout became the sixth American League player to start at least four All-Star games before his 25th birthday, joining Ken Griffey Jr., Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Al Kaline and Ivan Rodriguez.
He was the 2014 most valuable player in the AL and the runner-up in his other three seasons since 2012. He is on track to lead the AL in wins above replacement (WAR) for the fifth straight year, entering Saturday with a 5.6 mark, according to Baseball Reference.
Trout is widely considered the best all-around player today. He entered Saturday with a .319 average, .423 on-base percentage, .561 slugging percentage, 18 homers, 58 runs batted in, 68 runs and 59 walks.
He routinely robs opponents of extra-base hits as he did Saturday night, when he made a leaping catch of J.B. Shuck's sixth-inning drive on the warning track, and Friday night, when he raced 100 feet into the gap in right-center to catch Adam Eaton's sixth-inning drive.
But an ESPN panel of experts went a huge step further last week, ranking Trout as the sixth best center fielder in baseball history behind Willie Mays, Mantle, Ty Cobb, Griffey and DiMaggio, and ahead of Tris Speaker, Cool Papa Bell, Duke Snider and Oscar Charleston.
"He's had an incredible start to what we all feel will be an incredible career," Manager Mike Scioscia said of Trout, who turns 25 on Aug. 7. "And the accolades are well deserved, because he's the best ballplayer that most of us have seen take the field."
Scioscia acknowledged that it is difficult to compare players across different eras because the speed of the game, the equipment and the quality and depth of pitching has improved so much over the years.
And two of the players on ESPN's list _ Cobb (1905-28) and Speaker (1907-28) _ played before television was invented, and two _ Bell (1922-46) and Charleston (1915-41) _ were Negro Leagues stars who never played in the major leagues.
"But when you cut through everything, we're seeing, and I think what people are going to be talking about 30 years from now, is one of the best baseball players who put a uniform on," Scioscia said. "And when you see it every day, you appreciate it even more, because this guy does everything."
Shoemaker did the bulk of the heavy lifting Saturday night. He allowed four hits through eight innings, and he took the mound for the ninth with a 1-0 lead and a pitch count of 99. Eaton led off with a double to left-center field and took third on Melky Cabrera's sharp one-out single to left field.
But Shoemaker struck out Todd Frazier and Justin Morneau, both with a split-fingered fastballs, to finish off the second straight shutout of the White Sox. Of his 115 pitches, 85 were strikes.
Hector Santiago set what Scioscia hopes is the tone for the second half with seven innings in Friday night's 7-0 win. Shoemaker did Santiago two innings better, easing the burden on the team's overworked bullpen.
"Our bullpen isn't going to work unless our starters can do what Hector did," Scioscia said before the game. "You don't have to throw seven goose eggs, but you have to give us a chance to win, get into that sixth or seventh inning every time you take the ball. Once that happens, I think the bullpen will materialize, and we will hold the leads we should."
