Can Trout join Miggy in 3,000-hit club?
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This story was excerpted from Rhett Bollinger’s Angels Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
ANAHEIM -- Count Angels superstar Mike Trout among those amazed about Detroit's Miguel Cabrera becoming just the 33rd player ever to reach 3,000 career hits, a feat he accomplished on Saturday.
Trout, 30, has played 12 seasons in the Majors, is a nine-time All-Star and has been the American League MVP three times, but with 1,436 career hits entering play Wednesday, he's still not even halfway to 3,000 hits. He's expected to reach 1,500 career hits this season, but that ought to put into perspective how difficult it is to become a member of the 3,000-hit club.
“That’s a lot of hits, I’ll tell you that,” Trout said. “You gotta do it year in and year out and put up a lot of numbers. It’s incredible. Every time we faced [Cabrera], he was either getting two or three hits. He's just fun to watch at the plate. When I first came up, I tried to swing with power to right-center, but no one does that better than he does."
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Trout said he hasn’t tried to do the math and see what it would take for him to reach the milestone. But he did say it would be a goal of his to reach that hallowed mark, especially after getting the chance to watch his former teammate Albert Pujols do it in 2018.
“For sure,” Trout said. “If you play long enough and get the opportunity to be out there every day and stay healthy, it’s definitely on your mind.”
Trout is off to another impressive start to the season offensively, shaking off a bruised left hand suffered on a hit-by-pitch on April 17 that caused him to miss three games. Trout was limited to 53 games in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and played in just 36 games last year before suffering a season-ending right calf strain on May 17. But he said he tries not to think about playing in only 89 combined games from 2020-21, in what should've been the prime of his career.
“It’s freak stuff.” Trout said. “I’m not really thinking about that stuff. I can control what’s in front of me, so I just go out there and play.”