Quote:
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho
Re: Griffey and Trout, Junior also did it all based on his natural ability. He never really changed or improved his approach at the plate.
Trout has already evolved his plate approach 2x, including a major change that eliminated a flaw of his (fastballs up were his kryptonite in 2014. By 2015, they no longer were).
It’s just a guess, but I’m going to bet Trout evolves as his physical tools start to degrade in his 30s and finds a way to remain a superstar. Griffey’s last really great season was at age 30, his first in Cincinnati. He had one more good season at age 35 but even that wasn’t “superstar” level.
I’d bet the house Trout has more than one “star” level season over the rest of his career.
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Yup - never seen anything like that.
One year he had a hole in the top of his swing and led the league in Ks. Next year it was just...gone.
Dafuq? Who does that at the big league level? "Eh, I just don't think I want to strike out anymore and I want to walk as often as I K from now on. So I'm just gonna do that...."
That doesn't happen. Strike zone judgment stabilizes damn near overnight for most big leaguers. You see very little meaningful evolution for the overwhelming majority of them, let alone dudes who have won MVPs before 22 years old.
It was just crazy. That was around the same time Harper eviscerated creation and then followed it up with a really advanced approach at the plate. I was sure we were going to see a modern day Mantle vs. Mays. And then Harper just evolved in the wrong direction to the point that he just swings with hilarious violence now and misses pitches he should not be missing. He didn't miss those at 22 or 23 years old - but then he decided trying to hit 500 ft moonshots was too much fun so that's what he does.
Harper turned a strength into a weakness while Trout turned a weakness into a strength. And that's what demonstrates what makes Trout so unbelievable and why the Harper v. Trout conversation hasn't been had in 4 years.