Mike Trout's Hot Start, Andy Pages' Breakout, and Sal Stewart's Emergence in MLB

Trout deep to left field and that ball is gone. That one's driven deep to left center field. See ya. Off the back wall of the bullpen. Deep left center, way up there. Monster shot. A long solo home run for Trout. He drives this one to right field. Judge is going back. IT'S GONE! MIKE TROUT ON A THIRD STRAIGHT DAY IN NEW YORK. Another home run FOR TROUT. WHOA! Did he crush that? 34-year-old Mike Trout. Are you for real? That's the question we're asking. Uh yeah, he's not done. Yeah, I understand.

He is not done. I love watching Mike Trout hit a home run. I And people are going, "Oh, Yankee Stadium." Those aren't cheapies where he's hitting it in Yankee Bro, those balls are out of Yosemite. He can hit Those balls are out of any ballpark in America. So, no, it's it's been fun to watch what he's been able to do at the start of the season. Obviously, coming to Yankee Stadium hitting five in four games, just kind of putting on a show. Um like I said, I mean, the game's better and uh everybody's in a good mood. Mike Trout's hitting So what do you think? I mean, obviously, he's not going to hit five home runs every four game series, but is this for real? Can Mike Trout have the year that we remember Mike Trout having in the past?

Oh, yeah, absolutely. It's just all about health. I mean, I think, you know, for him the last, you know, five, six years, whatever it's been, it's just been about health. I mean, when he's healthy and he's swinging the bat the way, you know, he can, um you know, he's going to do the he's going to have these stretches. He's going to, you know, have these um these kind of weeks where he can kind of go off and carry a team. So, um yeah, I'm excited for him and hopefully he can stay healthy. at some of the numbers for him. He's swinging at more strikes this year. So, he's a little more aggressive at the plate, at least so far. And when he swings at strikes this year, he's making contact 88% of the time, which would be

his highest since 2018. So, maybe a little bit more of aggressive at approach for Mike Trout, I don't know. And he's handling the top of his zone a little better. Um you know, he's always been a low ball hitter. He's always That's kind of been a swing path, but he's kind of like handling the top of his zone a little bit better. Um so, I think that's helping him out, too. Mike Trout, a superstar. Andy Pages, a superstar. You go, "Okay, if you're, you know, new to baseball, you go, 'Andy Pa-'" He is leading the majors in batting average right now. You see with a swing like that, it's no doubter. Um is this start though, Cece, in this Dodgers lineup for Pages, is this real? Absolutely it's for real. And I

think because the lineup is so deep and, you know, you can name the lineup top to bottom, you know, who are all the guys you can go through, that he's I mean, he's hit at the bottom of that lineup and just getting, you know, all the pitches that, you know, he can get and he's he's barreling them. So, um yeah, I think because of the lineup and the protection that he has, I think this can be a real thing and it's something that he can carry the whole summer, for sure. Yeah. I mean, you wonder some of the numbers, are they fluky at all? They track everything. You know there's the spin rates and bat speed, second on the team, Andy Pages, to uh Shohei Ohtani.

Oh, wow. I mean, I didn't know that. I mean, five homers, 21 RBIs already. I mean, you know, at the bottom of that lineup being able to produce like that, um it's just only going to keep them at number one in my power rankings All season long. It is in stone. It's even more than pen. In stone. Uh Cincinnati Reds were right now first in the in that division. Sal Stewart has come up and has exploded. They hope they see this. They saw a little bit of it last year. It was a preview and now it's carried over into this year. This start for Sal Stewart in the Cincinnati Reds, is it for real?

I think it is. I mean, I think, you know, I got a chance to see Sal as a high school player and uh you know, when he was younger, he was line to line, just line drives, being able to hit the ball in the gap. And now he's gotten a little older, um being able to, you know, put some power behind the ball. He hit that ball right there out of center field. Um and just his at-bats, you know, I feel like a lot of these young guys come up and they're trying to put a swing on whatever pitch. And I feel like Sal's a hitter. Like Sal can get in good counts, get himself in a good counts, and do whatever you need him to do. He can get into a sac fly, you know, he can put make contact, get the runner in, you

know, do whatever he need He can do whatever it needs to be done, you know, out of his spot in the lineup, um to get runs in to produce. So, um I think he's a all-around great hitter, um when at a time where guys are just trying to come up and put a good swing on a pitch. He can put, you know, A swings on pitches all around the zone. A little bit of a lost start. So, you saw him How many years ago was that when you first saw him? Uh it would've been five years ago now. Yeah. Wow. And so, you knew that. You were You saw him and you were like see it. Yeah. I mean, I mean, obviously, when they, you know, 16, 17 years old, you can see when a guy can, you know, is

barreling the ball line to line. You don't know what the power's going to be. You don't know what the position's going to be. Um but you can see the bat, for sure. Natural ability. All right, we got one more for you, and it is a Giants bat boy. And it is a Giants bat boy on the road, which is a the clubhouse guy. Uh let's let's take the a look at the video in case you haven't seen it. This was in Cincinnati, speaking of which. So, uh they had something going on between these two teams, right? A little back and forth. And so, Willy Adames thought maybe that was retaliation. And look at the bat boy.

The bat boy is all about it. What's just hilarious to me because if he's not with the team all the time If he didn't come from San Francisco, he works in the visiting clubhouse in Cincinnati. don't. They don't travel their bat boys, to Not normally you don't. Not for like a series in April. So, you know, this kid is from Cincinnati. He works in the clubhouse in Cincinnati. And he's mad at the pitcher, you know, for the run. So, I thought that was great. I mean, you got to be all in. They must be tipping him good over there. they had to have, right? [clears throat and laughter] They go, "If something goes down, you're on our side." Uh what were those guys like? What were those guys like that

they lived in the city, but were in the visiting clubhouse Oh, yeah. I mean, the clubhouse guys are the guys that run the league. You know, I mean, that was something that Ellis Burks told me early in the in my career was take care of all the guys that are in the clubhouse and, you know, you'll never have to worry about anything in the big leagues. And, you know, that was something that I took to heart. I was always close with all the visiting clubhouse guys throughout the league and, you know, still carry that relationship to this day. Yeah. And they know everything. goes down, they might tell everyone, you know. could write books on everybody.

Well, exactly. I would buy that. I would buy that book. All right. And he's for real. We're going to say you're for real. Giants bat boy guy who might be from Cincinnati.