How Were 24 Players Drafted Ahead of Mike Trout? | Baseball Bits

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Mike Trout was definitely the best player in the 2009 MLB Draft. In this episode of Baseball Bits, a Foolish Baseball production, we journey back to the Mike Trout high school days. His hometown? Mike Trout Millville. They don't call him the Millville Meteor for nothing. So we have to pay attention to his Mike Trout New Jersey days, where he attended Millville High School.
We take a look at the players drafted before Mike Trout. There were 24 in total, including #1 overall pick Stephen Strasburg. It was a magical day when Stephen Strasburg drafted. But even more important was the Mike Trout draft and when Mike Trout drafted. The Mike Trout draft class is an interesting one littered with high school hitters who didn't make the bigs, yet Trout rocketed through the minors and became a superstar in his Mike Trout rookie year.
We also take a look at some Mike Trout Perfect Game showcase data. He wasn't as active on the showcase scene as some of his peers.
All in all, we should be thankful we got to see the Angels draft Mike Trout. At least he wasn't a second round pick. The MLB Network 2009 Draft coverage was thought to be an embarassment due to having one player show up. I guess they're lucky that he just happened to be Mike Trout.
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How Mike Trout Fells to the Angels: www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/2...

[@FoolishBaseball]

Trout actually slashed .287//377/.561 in 2014. Got the batting average wrong. DFA him and myself immediately.

[@TrueRGM]

We won't DFA you, just need some rehab down in Single-A. Keep your head up kid, we're gonna need you for the stretch run.

[@FoolishBaseball]

You're lucky I still have option years!

[@VACATETHE48]

@@FoolishBaseball I only wish I could come up with something as inventive as this thread.

[@CBielski87]

buddy, ive disliked baseball since the crackdown on steroids [they REALLY should encourage PED use as its not a combat sport hence more entertaining + still safe/fair for all players participating (or not) in PED use] but my allah o-bama your content is prostate throbbingly good

[@VACATETHE48]

@@CBielski87 The fuck did I just read

[@SetTheEdge]

My wife left me for Mike Trout's Baseball Reference page

[@FoolishBaseball]

Good choice on your wife's part.

[@ConorC917]

Set the Edge Hey man, great seeing you here, love the videos!

[@SetTheEdge]

Tw1 Yes. Karen if you’re reading this I’ll work on my swing just let me see the children

[@chancewolff8268]

@Set the Edge how bout a video on the Saints

[@tacosrock11_34]

Set the Edge set the edge!

[@connorbean1162]

Coaches: This guy was a future Hall of Famer how did we miss him? Scouts: Well you see it was too cold...

[@GarretRB]

Connor Bean it was too chilly outside

[@joshlewis575]

Sad part is most of those "talent evaluators" still got their gigs

[@brandoncook1345]

There was a bit of a draft and I got uncomfortable

[@TheGLORY13]

You have to essentially scout yourself in the north east and hope videos make it to scouts/colleges. We had a kid get drafted by the redsox and then he chose college...unlucky for him in college everyone is 6'3 and throws mid 90s as a righty so he got swallowed and spit out. But the north east doesn't get a ton of scouting events (we had 1 perfect game event in the area and it did draw big name colleges) but outside of that you had to get pretty lucky to find one. The rockies showed up to town doing a little try out event. The North Eastearn kids best bets are AAU Ball and traveling south (which we tended to do). Only way to guarantee yourself games.

[@connorbean1162]

@@TheGLORY13 honestly for real tho. I remember going through the recruiting process with my brother in football, I swear if we lived in Texas or some other state he would of at least got a FCS football offer. New England and just the northeast in general just feels like under scouted.

[@kaminsod4077]

I'm sure Trouts comforted by that extension worth the GDP of a small country.

[@Meltman1000]

Always wonder this, I know he was out of high school but damn

[@FoolishBaseball]

*wiping away tears with money*

[@ETYPEJaguar38]

Nice thumbnails by the way, Abe-san.

[@blacksox28]

That California tax rate is something mighty fierce though

[@danballe]

@@blacksox28 Yes, so Ive heard

[@TrueRGM]

Next up on Baseball Bits: *A look back on the 1,389 players taken ahead of Mike Piazza* Great vid as always!

[@FoolishBaseball]

That's gonna take a while to chart.

[@MetFanMac]

By Hall of Fame standards getting picked 25th overall is nothing, even if you are a generational talent like Trout. Piazza is an extreme example, but the Hall also has players picked 574th (John Smoltz), 295th (Nolan Ryan), and 166th (Wade Boggs) -- and those are just first-ballot HOFers. Heck, Rickey Henderson has the 14th highest bWAR of all time and yet 95 men went ahead of him in the first four rounds of the 1976 draft.

[@dennischen5367]

If FB made this into a legit series, Mike Piazza will become FB's Isaiah Thomas.

[@armadillolover99]

MetFanMac The difference is, those guys weren’t the best player in the game the minute they stepped onto an MLB field. The best out of that group was Nolan Ryan and he was a solid pitcher when he first came up, but he was not the Nolan Ryan we all hear about. Trout was the best player in baseball in 2012 and nobody else has been close to him since. He hasn’t even been in the league 10 years and if he were to retire today he’d be a first ballot HOFer and he’s at the very least a Top 5 All-Time player and somehow even the team that took him thought someone else was worth drafting before him. It’s not just about a Hall of Famer that people missed. All the guys you mentioned weren’t HOF talents when they were drafted, Trout was better than most of the top 10 MVP candidates before he even played a full season.

[@johntompkins79]

Wasn't he drafted as a favor to Tommy Lasorda?

[@SkolGamingNetworkYT]

ESPN posted an article about this recently... the Angels staff in charge of selecting Trout were quoted as saying they picked Trout 25th to suppress his signing bonus. Teams were floating $1 million above slot for Trout, so the Angels made him their "second" choice to create and artificially-diminished valuation. Also interesting was the Angels scout who claims to have had Trout rated as an overall 75 on the 20-80 scale, only to lower that number to a 68 because he had never given a high school kid above a 70.

[@FoolishBaseball]

Was that in the Keith Law article? I posted it in the description.

[@SkolGamingNetworkYT]

@@FoolishBaseball it was. I'm admittedly guilty of not reading descriptions too often.

[@sportsfaniguess154]

I like to imagine Mike Trout took down names of each team that passed on him, and noted that when he played them, he was going to decimate them, but it was more teams than he thought it was going to be, so he scratched the plan and decided to just make all of them look stupid.

[@EdwardNigma48333934]

Maybe that's why he crushes the Mariners everytime!

[@SamBrickell]

"If I get passed over by a few teams, I'm always going to circle those games on my calendar and play really well." *24 picks later...* "... sh_it, I guess I have to become an All-Star."

[@chandlerfacejr]

Mike Trout so deserves his greatness in baseball for showing up there. Complete nice guy.

[@joshlewis575]

Major league baseball should be ashamed this guy isn't universally recognized. Such a remarkable talent, n the guy could probably walk most streets without a problem.

[@PiperAtTheGatesOfYourMom]

Harry Engel yeah... if baseball embraced more of “let the kids play”, got more exciting and kinda shed away from the old culture of the slowness and seriousness of the game (like dont batflip cuz youll hurt the pitchers feelies), the game could be in every living room again. When was the most exciting time in baseball history? The steroid era... every night you knew a new record would be broken, and most of the “unwritten rules” kinda went down the drain for 5-10 years and everyone was having fun

[@DM0407]

I don't follow baseball, but good on the Angles for picking that guy up. With all the TV cameras they must have felt bad watching him just sitting there. Hopefully it didn't screw their future up too badly. Now to watch the video...

[@sneersh9107]

@@PiperAtTheGatesOfYourMom People always wanna talk about unwritten rules but most of them are reasonable and really just etiquette for playing the sport. Baseball has plenty of other, more pressing problems. A massive one being how much sabermetrics dictate gameplay nowadays. Relying so much on stats all the time is taking the athleticism and the magic out of baseball. On defense, balls are often hit right at fielders because the stats tell them exactly where they should be standing. No one wants to see a ball hit right at a fielder, that's not interesting. People want to see fielders make excellent plays based on their talent and instinct and the overuse of stats diminishes that. Nowadays pitchers get pulled out of games 6 or 7 innings into a no-hit bid... this just happened today with Kershaw, he was perfect through the first 7 innings and got pulled at just 80 pitches, much to the dismay of the entire stadium. Stuff like that is robbing fans and players of experiencing history and incredible performances. And now we have electronics that tell not only the pitcher but also the infielders the pitch that the catcher wants to throw next. We may as well be feeding data to a bunch of robots and putting them out there because that's what we're doing with players at an increasing rate. It's sucking the athleticism, the decision making, the baseball intelligence, the situational awareness, and many other factors out of the game so no wonder we're getting a product that fewer people find interesting.

[@lucass.8338]

5:42. "Large Attractive" I don't know why I find that so funny

[@FoolishBaseball]

classic bit

[@cj6580]

Lucas S. Because it’s true

[@gingerface1898]

Big Sexy!

[@somerando9475]

Because it's normal to laugh at things that are hilarious 😂

[@purpletacos4609]

I was going to post something... LOL

[@Alexskateboards10]

Honestly almost made me tear up that he was the only one who showed up. It just shows how much he was meant to be the greatest from the very start and how much his heart is in it then and still always is. He’s just having fun out there

[@ricky5369]

same

[@ricky5369]

I looked this up later though and found out the mlb network is in new jersey of his home state though haha

[@GiraffeNeckMarc]

Wow, what a copycat 😂. THIS IS CLEARLY A JOKE. THIS VIDEO IS WAY BETTER THAN MINE.

[@rorysoldaccount8197]

That was the first thing I thought when I saw this lol

[@izaiahbeltran8836]

Foolish baseball stay stealing content

[@tims3712]

Haha was gonna say he stole it from u lol

[@stephenmason9527]

Just different styles man, there's plenty of room in the van!

[@Brickmasterfilms]

GiraffeNeckMarc I saw the Mets lose from the Yankees. I don’t know what to feel about this. I hate the Yankees AND the Mets. From a Braves fan. Btw, I love your videos Marc!

[@ilikegus7274]

People always say you are a baseball version of Jon Bois, and that’s close, but I think of you more as a baseball version of Summoning Salt.

[@FoolishBaseball]

I like Salt's vids a lot. He has actually commented on mine before.

[@bassistwithadeathwish7277]

Jon Bois and Salt are actually pretty similar in terms of quality and what they do. I love them both. Also, I'd say he also has a bit of KTO in him.

[@SirTylerGolf]

Yes all 3 make great videos

[@raymondprovost9076]

Jon Bois makes baseball videos though

[@AzureKite]

"baseball version of Jon Bois" is weird when Jon has made plenty of baseball videos. I get that it means baseball-specific or baseball-focused version, since Jon does most major sports (and stories about lawn chairs and weather balloons that are pretty good) but I still find it a little weird whenever I read it.

[@conairehorgan2456]

Foolish Baseball is a family friendly channel LMAO large attractive on Bartolo Colon

[@FoolishBaseball]

we keep it PG

[@charlesbarkley223]

@@FoolishBaseball because Supreme leader Susan tells you to, same women who shilled the WHO'S propaganda

[@charlesbarkley223]

@@FoolishBaseball but that's not your fault great channel I really enjoy your content

[@Ariokanikan]

Seeing Tyler Matzek on the below 5 war section really hits home how magical he was during the braves world series run. Truly one of my favorite pitchers to see on the mound all last season. Wishing him a speedy recovery and return this season.

[@stephenmason9527]

You and Marc making such similar videos reminds me of an old Pablo Francisco joke: 'when two women wear the same dress to a party...you *know* it's gonna go down. But when two dudes wear the same shirt to a party... FRIENDS FOR LIFE!'

[@FoolishBaseball]

I think the only solution is for Marc and I to have a duel.

[@stephenmason9527]

@@FoolishBaseball duels are for Twitter. It is known.

[@Splashus_Klay]

Almost as epic as Arnold Schwarzenegger in Little Tortilla Boy

[@stephenmason9527]

@@Splashus_Klay "He wanted out...but the mob wanted in"

[@Splashus_Klay]

@@stephenmason9527 "You got to listen to me, and listen to me good... THEY'RE TRYING TO TAKE MY TORTILLAS!"

[@Jride247]

Angels had Trout #2 overall on their big board and would've taken him over Grichuk. The story goes that scouting director Eddie Bane promised Greg Morhardt, the area scout who had scouted Trout, that the Angels would take Trout with the team's first pick. When the Angels announced Grichuk's name first, "Morhardt almost fainted," says Bane. "That was kind of cruel of me, but I thought it was funny." So in essence, they selected Grichuk over Trout to simply play a huge goof on Morhardt.

[@jackm4457]

The Angels might also been trying to torture the Yankees. The Yanks were picking after the Angels, and they had actually scouted Trout and had him high on board. Also interesting is that Eddie Bane got fired by the Angels not long afterward.

[@gavinvanhouten5951]

@@jackm4457 Damn as a Yankees fan having Trout would be awesome, especially for me cuz he's my favorite player...

[@jackm4457]

@@gavinvanhouten5951 I think one of the reasons Trout never opted for Free Agency was that he didn't want to end up on the Yankees and then be compared to The Mick and Babe and Lou Gehrig for the greatest ever in pinstripes. But it is sad that he plays in relative anonymity.

[@gavinvanhouten5951]

@@jackm4457 True...tho I think he's better than any of them

[@williamkoscielniak820]

@@gavinvanhouten5951 Eh.... It's just too difficult to compare era's. But he's right up there with all of them as one of the greatest players ever.

[@troveteam]

I personally know the Angels scout who covered the northeast region during the Trout draft. He helped me secure a baseball scholarship in Connecticut. He was asked to submit his top 3 draft choices to the war room. He wrote down Mike Trout for all 3 and said if you pass on this kid you're passing on a Hall of Famer. I think it's safe to say he was good at his job.

[@yeetusmcgeetus4946]

Imagine being a top prospect, being asked to the MLB draft where you are almost guaranteed to be selected, and not going. I can't fathom anyone saying no to that yet there was only one person who said yes

[@Justin3Santiago]

Fittingly enough, him being the only one is kinda fitting. A whole showcase just for who will become the GOAT

[@sneersh9107]

Yeah I didn't understand that either. Maybe because it was in New Jersey and the prospects didn't want to make the trip there? Trout is from new jersey so it wouldn't have been too far from him. But either way it's pretty ridiculous, this is the biggest moment of their young baseball career, you'd think people would show up for that.

[@mattschumacher4581]

MLB network had just started so they probably didn’t offer as many benefits for the draft prospects, like a fancy hotel or a free plane ticket. But the biggest reason is that most of the players were from the south and Trout was only a 2 hour drive away from the studio.

[@epicdizzle.]

Meanwhile my player on The Show gets picked in the 18th round then goes on to be a Hall of Famer because i'm playing on Rookie

[@joshuaposey9878]

LMAO! dude same here

[@mitchconner2021]

People in real life picked in those round have made it? Not everyone picked in the first round will make it not everyone past the 10th sucks? Why do you idiots not understand this?

[@nickschuman4652]

Gotta max out those human contact and power sliders

[@thesenate5245]

@@nickschuman4652 yessir

[@Vogurt]

@@thesenate5245 Yall really have fun playing a game you manufactured to guarantee you will win? Participation award generation multiplied lmao

[@mitchconner2021]

To be honest. Trying to determine what kid is gonna turn out in baseball is damn tough. Do a video on how many number 1 overall picks in the MLB draft didn't pan out. PS it's alot

[@gabrielcox4369]

3:44 “A collection of real major league nonfactors” Tyler Matzek’s huge nuts say otherwise Bailey

[@samgreenberg4966]

The 21 dislikes this video receives will be from the 21 teams that struck out on Trout.

[@FoolishBaseball]

Oh this'll get more than 21 dislikes.

[@samgreenberg4966]

But who can dislike Trout? Other than every team that has to play against him? Oh, so 29 dislikes, I get it. Side note, as someone who watches/listens to the Yankees almost every day, it really sucks that Trout is in the AL West; I never get to watch him.

[@Zameenee57]

@@samgreenberg4966 as someone in the AL West (Mariners fan and yes it hurts to be one), I love watching Trout play. I dislike the Angels the least in our division just because of Trout. He completely rakes in Seattle (seriously look up his stats in T-Mobile Park) and especially against Felix Hernandez.

[@samgreenberg4966]

@@Zameenee57 " Trout, 27, has tormented Mariners pitchers in his career, and he’s been especially tough on them in Seattle. In 69 career games at then-Safeco Field, he hit .331 with a 1.086 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, and his 20 home runs here are more than he’s hit at any other ballpark outside of Anaheim. Record-breaking contract in hand, Mike Trout gets to continue love affair with Seattle He was even better in Seattle last season, hitting .514 with five homers and a 1.776 OPS in 43 plate appearances. " - Seattle Times Well I guess if you want to watch Trout, you gotta pay the price lol

[@Zameenee57]

@@samgreenberg4966 I was hoping he would somehow land in Seattle if he hit free agency. That will never happen now though.

[@Alstor_H2O]

BREAKING: FOOLISH BASEBALL HAS GONE CRITICAL BONKERS

[@FoolishBaseball]

He may never be the same

[@bobkovacs4864]

Breaking what ma.

[@localfox1000]

The production quality of your video is so good. The details, the narrative, the graphics and the music.👌I'm envious

[@sirstewartwallace3917]

One thing that was left out here that may have scared teams away from Trout was that he was considering attending college at East Carolina and not signing right away. This might have caused teams not to consider drafting him, for fear that they might waste their top pick on someone who doesn't sign (this happened later with draft bust Mark Appel, who was drafted eighth in 2012 and didn't sign, choosing to attend Stanford, only to be drafted first the next year).

[@AlanGohel]

This has gotta be the best Mike Trout video I have ever Mike Trout seen! In these 12 Mike Trout minutes, you taught me everything I needed to know about the Mike Trout draft and the Mike Trout prospects picked ahead of Mike Trout. I am also from Mike Trout New Jersey, so it’s nice to see some Mike Trout representation.

[@FoolishBaseball]

Mike

[@AlanGohel]

Trout

[@tommyzeigler9620]

i love the retro style of your videos and the step by step breakdowns, so entertaining!

[@thezdbailey]

Such a great and entertaining video. You do outstanding work man.

[@YDINO69]

Yes thank you for the Trout episode I kept commenting asking for one and you said it was coming It's amazing I'm a Yankees fan

[@hypetrained]

Keith Law tells a story about how the Angels GM fangled the Trout pick away from the A's. "Farhan [Zaidi] and I -- further proving the Peter Principle -- flew out together to go watch him, normally not a trip I would make, to see a high school outfielder from a small town across the country," Beane said to ESPN's Keith Law. "Trout went like 0-for-5, popped out, so we didn't even get to see him run." The A's had seen Trout show off his skills before, however, and the Angels heard of word of their interest from none other than ... Trout's father. "Jeff [Trout] called me, said [A's assistant GM] Dave Forst saw him hit three home runs in a weekend, and Jeff said, 'Well, he wants [Mike] to come to Oakland for a workout,'" Greg Morhardt, Angels Northeast area scout, told Law. "I'm thinking if you spend the whole day with Mikey you're gonna take him and Billy's a smart guy. I'm thinking I've got to stop this." Morhardt and Jeff Trout have a long standing relationship. The two played with each other in the minor leagues in the 1980s, and the two were even roomates during spring training. He also made up a story to Jeff that the Angels had a workout the same day as the A's, and did everything is his power to get an actual workout in place that day to get Trout to Southern California instead of the Bay Area. "If Billy had gotten him there, it would have been over," Morhardt said to Law. "You get Mike in your ballpark, and I don't know where he would have been hitting balls." Trout has been to Billy's ballpark, and the A's have paid ever since. In 72 trips to Oakland, Trout has hit 16 home runs -- his second-most at any opposing ballpark -- and he has a .905 OPS at the Colisuem. Overall, Trout is batting .305 with 31 homers against the A's. "Since then, Trout went on his own personal iron fleet in the Greyjoy. He's the fourth Greyjoy, just destroying us, with a vengeance worse than Euron's to remind the A's they should have taken him," Beane said to Law. www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/athletics/how-angels-stopped-picking-mike-trout-back-2009-mlb-draft

[@Wigglyass]

always love coming back to this video, personally one of my favourite baseball bits

[@VICTAAAA]

My new favorite YT channel! Keep up the wonderful work!

[@jacoblee3182]

10:50 lmao 'the Los Angeleez Angels'

[@blank_ivysaur]

"Now you might recognize some of these names." Me: Joey Wheeler

[@TheRabidbunnies]

The craziest story I've heard as a Dodger fan was that the DBacks had back to back picks in the 2009 draft, and like 5 picks out of the first 60 picks or something, so they planned all along to take a high-end college prospect followed by a high-end high school prospect. They had planned for a while to take Trout as the high-end high school prospect, but a couple days before the draft their scouts went to see Trout one last time. Trout had apparently his worst ever game he's ever played, high school or pro, and the scouts had second thoughts, and that's what prevented the Dodgers from having to see Trout 19 times a year. Still sucks he's on our cross-town rival, but definitely an interesting story of how one off game could've affected so much of baseball history

[@FoolishBaseball]

Just goes to show it's the damn weather.

[@itriedtowarnher]

I just watched that video yesterday lol Love your vids keep it up!

[@FoolishBaseball]

Thank you!

[@everbard3071]

Even though I knew it was coming, I still teared up at the end of the video when Trout finally got picked and was the lone player to attend.

[@kingdaccin9828]

Marc did it first. Foolish did it better.

[@GiraffeNeckMarc]

Correct

[@FoolishBaseball]

Well it takes Foolish two weeks so it should be better.

[@danballe]

@@GiraffeNeckMarc Hehehhehe Well well well looky here!

[@DatainBS]

well there are 2 ways to do things... Do it first or Do it the best

[@metsfan7376]

They were different videos tho. Bailey did an analysis while Marc did a where are they now video

[@adamgiardina7411]

There is no doubt that this is the most underrated KZbin channel on the site

[@austinelastico360]

these 8bit videos are godlike thank you!!

[@trevbob2274]

How to be the best player in baseball: Step 1: Show up to the mlb draft

[@ryoshein.4498]

Step 2: be the greatest baseball player

[@joe-op2gr]

thanks ima show up in thr next mlb draft

[@jackgeeslin6647]

Funny that matzek is on there and now he’s a beast

[@hussassain2745]

Please make more videos I love them so much man they’re like 5 course meals to me

[@gingerface1898]

Another great video! Hope you see a subscriber boost soon! This is quality original baseball content and your channel deserves better. Keep up the great work!🙌⚾️👍

[@FoolishBaseball]

Would love to see a boost as well. Thank you for the kind words, Connor.

[@pfon828]

“You get a Tommy John” 😂😂😂😂

[@connerwoods6912]

Definitely my favorite baseball channel 👏🏻 well done as always

[@FoolishBaseball]

Thank you very much!

[@phillies_]

You did it again! Great video! Large Attractive joke was hilarious

[@FoolishBaseball]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the vid.

[@jacksongroat4439]

favorite baseball channel, thanks for your hard work!

[@FoolishBaseball]

Thank you for your kind words!

[@perryng1339]

I'm a simple man, I see Baseball Bits, I click.

[@FoolishBaseball]

IT'S SO EASY

[@JeevesAnthrozaurUS]

Secaucus sounds like a town that's only notable for how funny its name sounds Perfect place for a baseball draft

[@ethanwile4553]

Yet another amazing video can’t wait to watch the stream tonight!

[@FoolishBaseball]

Thanks and I'll see you in a few hours.

[@tylerhonsel8136]

Great video! Very poetic in its construction!!!

[@WaffleLover-my1hi]

Great video as always! The A's took Grant Green ahead of Mike Trout, I remember his debut in Pittsburgh and thats all I remember from him lol. Also, I know why Randal Grichuk was taken ahead of Trout. According to their head scouting director of the time Eddie Bane, he says he wanted to kind of show up Trout's agent Craig Landis who kept changing the amount of money it was going to take to sign him. You can hear the full story from Bane's voice on Anthony Castrovince's podcast called Full Account, that's where I heard it. He did 6 episodes all about the 2009 draft, one being about Mike Trout. It is a really good podcast. See you tonight on your live stream!

[@FoolishBaseball]

Nice, I kind of figured there was some sort of negotiation shenanigans.

[@pricecowan5728]

Thank you for addressing the reasons why teams were weary about taking Trout as well. There have been hundreds of cool weather prep bats that looked good in spring competitions that completely dropped off in full season ball. Obviously Trout was different, but it definitely wasn’t a sure fire pick at the time like a lot of people let on

[@FoolishBaseball]

I think that's just part of what makes it an interesting story.

[@nickdaly6533]

Man we need more videos! I can watch these all day long

[@FoolishBaseball]

Working on it!

[@reidbarry5459]

I have been watching giraffe for so long, way before his channel had 20k subs. Great video, keep the uploading!

[@FoolishBaseball]

Thank you! I'll do my best!

[@thesaroscycle_archive]

You know what ticks me off? The Diamondbacks were planning to take Trout with one of their picks. WE COULD HAVE HAD THE FISH MAN.

[@aqgpandemic5406]

I approve of the meagaman music.

[@FoolishBaseball]

I seek only your approval, so this is great news for me.

[@morti8845]

Baseball bits has become my favorite KZbin series, its absolutely fantastic

[@FoolishBaseball]

That's wonderful!

[@BloodoperaBlackvomit]

Every 4 months I watch this vid and i'm amazed. Greetings from The Netherlands.

[@jasonpaul292]

Picked up Trout as a FA in his first season, saw him being mentioned when he was called up and took the chance not knowing a thing other than his name being a fish. Dude rode my team into a championship, never had a luckier FA pickup in any fantasy leagues since.

[@michaelpisciarino5348]

2:33 The Trout 24 3:20 High School Hitters 3:45 Major League Non-Factors 4:00 Recognizable names 4:31 Pitchers with Tommy John 4:42 Mike Leake 5:00 Stephen Strasburg 5:28 Mike Trout 6:18 Pick pick pick 6:42 The United States of America 🇺🇸 and The Caribbean 7:28 Millville New Jersey 8:32 Perfect Game, USA 9:26 Wiffing 9:53 2014 Worst year 10:44 Michael Trout

[@outtatime9836]

I love rewatching old videos I loved in the past, I binge ur stuff bout every video u drop, yet I just notice the largely attractive Bartolo colon shout out. I can’t stop laughing.

[@abrownnn3740]

This is amazing content

[@FanTomeBoosh]

I now associate the Mega Man 4 ending with the Millville Meteor, and thats okay

[@cesaragustin4033]

imagine mike trout on the 2010 giants 💀

[@foocw]

man, never thought i'd hear one of the soundtracks of my childhood again, much less in a baseball video. i played a lot of megaman on the game boy as a kid!

[@rolyrod69]

The deep level of stats, metrics, and you dissect is insane!!

[@KalenCarslaw]

Millville Meteor, a joke nickname invented on the SomethingAwful Forums, managed to gain credence across the internet and then real life. XD

[@vikelhombre3107]

Remember when Trout threw a no-hitter? He was Ohtani before Ohtani!

[@guillaumesaucier2923]

I always love to see your videos pop up I can’t wait to feast on this one

[@FoolishBaseball]

Can't wait to see hear what you think!

[@guillaumesaucier2923]

Just finished and this video and like all of your other ones is just great I didn’t even see the 12 minutes past, i hope your sub count just explodes you really deserve it

[@thetedsingh]

This may be the best video on KZbin? It's like a movie I watch over and over.

[@gavinr1425]

God your channel is so good

[@FoolishBaseball]

Thank you! I try.

[@gregorymorhardt3262]

My dad was the scout who drafted him, he said he would go to games and hope he played bad because the other scouts couldn’t tell that he was a future hall of famer... then he prayed he would fall to 24 and 25.

[@DoctorThrasher]

Funny how life works out sometimes, eh?

[@HaloHobbyCards]

When does part 2 come out? :) Great video, appreciate all the time you take to make these video's!

[@FoolishBaseball]

Ha! I don't know about a part 2, but we'll see.

[@WhatTheFlub]

Really good video!

[@tbow13gbr22]

The only team who gets a pass is Washington. Strasburg has been pretty damn good

[@joshlewis575]

Every time I hear the name Jacob Turner I cant imagine how someone being paid to spot talent thought that guy had more than Mike trout.

[@vijayawada2]

It has not been close...

[@Codiisright]

@@joshlewis575 That's how I feel as a Jays fan... five picks ahead of Trout we took Chad Jenkins, a college pitcher who had mediocre strikeout ability at best and a fastball that sat around 91 MPH. Jenkins was out of baseball by the end of 2016 while Trout finished up the the year with his second MVP award, his fifth straight All-Star appearance and Silver Slugger award. By the end of the 2015 season (Jenkins' last stint in the Majors) Trout had been the runner up for AL MVP three times and Jenkins had three career wins lmao. Jenkins' best season in terms of K/9 came in 2014 when he struck out 5.1 batters per 9 innings. Trout's worst season in terms of WAR since becoming a regular in the Majors is 7.2 which happened in 2017; on three occasions (2012, 2016 and 2018) so far Trout's WAR has at least doubled Jenkins' peak K/9 rate.

[@blackmamba1261]

Washington doesn't get a pass lol. They still had one more draft pick after Strasburg before Trout got drafted.

[@aidanharnois4536]

@@blackmamba1261 I mean, getting Strasburg is a definite pass, and humans .ame mistakes

[@senororlando2]

The one dislike is obv from Grichuk

[@FoolishBaseball]

I like Grichuk though! I think he's underrated.

[@daflame12]

Foolish Baseball he’s on a bad team, it’s not his fault

[@Compucles]

@@daflame12 Grichuk's on a bad team, because those are the only ones where he deserves to start. The Cardinals traded him away to the Blue Jays, because he was too maddeningly inconsistent. He has light tower power and is even a decent fielder, but he's never been able to make enough contact or walk enough to make him worth starting on a contending team.

[@maddux1188]

This is so amazing.

[@volcanicash31]

Yay! I love your videos and am really gla d five points has you on his channel. I wouldn't have found you otherwise.

[@FoolishBaseball]

I'm glad too! He's a real piece of work though.

[@thehudy1_931]

Frowned when I spotted the clip of trout with Skaggs’ pitch count in the bottom right corner😕

[@KC-bg1th]

Sentence 1: "That might be too harsh" Follow-up sentence: "Let's move on, the mediocrity is making me sick."

[@Beckipedia]

I remember reading an article that talked about one of the Angels scouts being obsessed with Trout, and that scout was the driving force behind the Angels drafting him. Also, as a Braves fan, the fact that we drafted Minor over Trout still keeps me awake at night.

[@btknight17]

This has shades of Jon Bois and I dig it. Keep up the great content!

[@FoolishBaseball]

Thank you!

[@milwaukeedrewer2759]

When your worst MLB OBP is .377 and you got picked 25th you know it’s bad.

[@mcray0309]

This dude hits .300 and that’s his worst season, wtf man this dude might be one of the best ever

[@jayceh]

So far, he actually is the best ever. Needs to keep it up for 8-9 years to end as the best ever.

[@jayceh]

@@thetruth9952 Ruth, May, Bonds, Aaron

[@jayceh]

@@thetruth9952 yah exactly. We have statistics to adjust for era - it's called WAR. Baseball is a career sport. Trout is the best player ever in his first 8 years. So that's what I said, do it for 8 more years.

[@nerychristian]

@@thetruth9952 If pitching was so terrible 50 years ago, why then aren't there more amazing hitters from that era? Why only a few stand out? And don't forget that the baseballs were made differently back then too, so it was harder to hit a home run. Also, it's very likely Trout is using some performance enhancing drugs. There is no way a guy can look that ripped without steroids.

[@jayceh]

@@thetruth9952 WAR isn't perfect but it's by definition era adjusted.

[@hereyougovideos]

Nice video man!

[@FoolishBaseball]

Thank you so much!

[@eugemoney8972]

I can confirm. In new jersey the weather always finds a way to mess up our high school bassball games. Always

[@timothystamm3200]

I think the problem is that there is not enough information on high school hitters and MLB exec's also are afraid that a hitter who has mostly seen fastballs and change ups of potentially iffy quality might wilt before major league hitting. So a lot of GMs want to wait until they've seen a player against similar competition or with their own eyes and because the college game is more consistent, the pitching of a higher quality, and usually the batters have matured more by that point as well GMs generally are more random on high school picks and some are wary of them in the first place. I don't know the state of high school stats or record keeping but seeing as I am in the Billy Bean camp on the Baseball Draft until you get a pitchfx like system installed in every or most high schools fields I don't think ANY MLB team should draft ANY high school players. In fact considering the chance of flameout are pretty bad I am not sure if any MLB team should be allowed by MLB to draft a high school player let alone in the early rounds where the player might be tempted by the signing bonus to sign before they feel they are ready. To be frank I don't what you're angry about (serious or not), why in God's name was a MLB, presumably run by professionals, drafting a high school player in the MLB Draft at all. Everything looks different with hindsight I think based on what they knew of him Mike Trout should not have been drafted until he had at least one season of college baseball under his belt. And the same goes for all of the other high school players drafted in that draft or any.

[@mattschumacher4581]

You make a fair point but it’s not like Trout was a typical high school prospect. He was probably the greatest high school hitter of all time and if he were from California, he would’ve been a slam dunk first overall pick (maybe second bc of how amazing Strasburg was in college). It just shows that it’s such a risk to take high schoolers, but it’s worth the risk when you can get guys like Trout. If he went to college, he would’ve made his mlb debut at 22 or 23 instead of 19. That’s a huge difference when you consider how incredible his career stats are at just age 30. He wouldn’t be a first ballot HOFer at this age if we was drafted out of college.

[@austinchampion4041]

Do a video on the Rays insanely good trade steals over the years, it’s actually pretty interesting

[@FoolishBaseball]

Very entertaining team.

[@ecardona70]

@@FoolishBaseball I just hate that other teams are going to use what the Rays are doing as an excuse to be cheap and not spend

[@Meltman1000]

This video was amazing, with need a part 2. Comparing trout to the others first round pick that year through out the minors. And what were they saying the teams that pass on him

[@FoolishBaseball]

Would definitely be interesting.

[@tristinmarion6382]

Love the videos bro love how you incorporate stats and still make it fun props on that

[@FoolishBaseball]

Thank you!

[@victorlavigne-fillion9854]

Do Kerry Wood 20 K game, near perfecto pls

[@danballe]

First!! Mega Man III (Maybe??!)

[@cliffjones8809]

Great Video. It made me think of a description I read some years ago of the Angels Scout watching this draft, knowing what was at stake. Almost like a three year old doin' the pee-pee dance.!

[@GraniteQuarrier]

grew up in NJ. Proud. Go Trout

[@yankeenumba5]

"large attractive"

[@ahronr25]

You just passed over Tyler Matzek, nothing to see there...

[@FanTomeBoosh]

I will forever associate the ending of MM4 with the Millville Meteor. Thanks FFBB

[@f2afinito983]

You be killing me with the how dare you sir? Lmao o man thank you

[@FoolishBaseball]

sir