Is Mike Trout Ready to Handle the Label of 'The New Face of Baseball'?

There are things we know Mike Trout can handle. Most notably, being a national superstar and the face of the Los Angeles Angels. Those aren't easy tasks. 

This will be the year, however, where we find out if Trout is ready for an even bigger challenge: being the new "Face of Baseball."

Now, Trout won't officially be bearing this title in 2015. He got deep into this year's #FaceofMLB contest, but lost to San Francisco Giants star Buster Posey. But knowing that Eric Sogard probably should have won last year, I wouldn't read too much into that. The whole thing holds about as much weight as a Kleenex suitcase.

Though Trout won't officially be the new Face of Baseball, realistically is another story. 

You'll recall that the search for the next Face of Baseball was on when longtime New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter announced his impending retirement last February, and Trout was the first player most everyone turned to. Notably, ESPN.com put Trout at No. 1 on a list of candidates for the next Face of Baseball, and MLB.com's Phil Rogers deemed him equal to the task.

Trout didn't disappoint in 2014. After being arguably the best choice for the American League MVP in 2012 and 2013, he finally won the award on the strength of a .939 OPS, 36 home runs, a league-high 111 RBI and outstanding clutch hitting. On a related note, his Angels won an MLB-best 98 games.

Jeff Roberson/Associated Press

Let's also not forget that, in the middle of it all, Trout shined brightly on baseball's midsummer stage. And in all-too-appropriate fashion, to boot.

Though the 2014 All-Star Game was supposed to be the Derek Jeter Farewell Show, him and Trout sharing the same starting lineup for the first and last time had some (i.e. ESPN.com's Jayson Stark and CBSSports.com's Matt Snyder) wondering if it could also serve as a passing of the torch.

As if on cue, Trout went 2-for-3 with an RBI triple and an RBI double to help lead the American League to a 5-3 victory. When he accepted the All-Star Game MVP, he might as well have been accepting the Face of Baseball torch from Jeter himself.

So, for the sake of making sure there's a second half to this article, let's accept that Trout is indeed the new Face of Baseball. 

The question is, can he hold on to the honor?

The first answer you want to go to is a flat-out "yes." Jeter was the Face of Baseball for so many years largely because he was a great player whose demeanor was beyond reproach, and these are more things Trout has shown he can handle.

Trout's production in his first three full seasons has been downright remarkable. He's hit 93 home runs and stolen 98 bases, and the OPS+ metric—which adjusts OPS for parks and leagues—rates him as the best of all qualified hitters. And given the stat is practically synonymous with his name by now, it's no surprise Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs peg him as baseball's top overall player.

Because Trout is only going into his age-23 season, you'd figure more of the same would be in order. The ZiPS and Steamer projections at FanGraphs and the PECOTA projections at Baseball Prospectus pretty much agree:

Split	PA	HR	SB	AVG	OBP	SLUG	OPS	WAR
2012-2014 Average	687	31	33	.311	.403	.561	.963	9.5
ZiPS	705	35	23	.301	.401	.577	.978	9.6
Steamer	677	31	21	.296	.390	.535	.926	8.6
PECOTA	676	27	28	.297	.382	.519	.901	7.2

As for Trout's demeanor, the big reason you can expect him to adhere to the Jeter model is because he's a big believer in it. 

He said as much on Twitter around this time last year:

Trout's having no trouble living up to Jeter's fine example on the field, and he's doing pretty well emulating the Yankees legend off the field, too.

It's by design that his private life has yet to stir up any controversy, as he told Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times last year that it's his goal to emulate Jeter's ability to "not put himself in the wrong place at the wrong time."

It also helps that Trout isn't exactly a thrill-seeker, as he added: "I'm not a guy that goes out a lot. I don't drink a lot. I don't do anything bad."

You can also factor in how, so far as anyone knows, Trout is playing the game cleanly. He also doesn't give off even the slightest whiff of arrogance. He's humble all the way.

These are qualities all fans can get behind. Combine that with how his talent also strikes a chord, and one wants to trust that it's a given he can handle being the Face of Baseball for years to come.

Then again, there's always a "But..."

Ed Zurga/Getty Images

Looking back, you realize Jeter established himself as the Face of Baseball in much simpler times. Part of the deal was that it wasn't hard to identify great players. If you hit over .300, you were a great hitter. If you looked like a great fielder, you were a great fielder.

Trout doesn't have this luxury. While many of the old standards for identifying great ballplayers are holding strong, advanced analytics are more popular and, in turn, have complicated things. There are now several avenues to greatness. 

To this point, the new reality has worked in Trout's favor. But maybe not for much longer.

When we think of Trout, we still think of a perfect combination of hitting, power, speed and defense. When we last saw him in 2014, however, only one of those things was improving. While FanGraphs can show Trout's power took a step forward, everything else took a step back.

Trout went from hitting over .320 in 2012 and 2013 to hitting just .287 last season. That had a lot to do with a strikeout problem nobody could ignore. Instances of pitchers being overmatched against him, and vice versa, were in almost equal supply. 

Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

Meanwhile, Trout's stolen base production is plummeting. He's gone from 49 steals in 2012 to 33 in 2013 to only 16 in 2014. His defense is trending in the same direction, as FanGraphs says his defensive value has declined from 13.0 runs in 2012 to 3.3 in 2013 to a shocking minus-8.4 in 2014.

All of a sudden, Trout is no longer a do-it-all "Simon Says" player. That makes it easy to be skeptical not just about the projections shown above, but also about his appeal. He's hardly becoming a bad player, but he's trending toward becoming less interesting. 

That is an issue regarding his status as the Face of Baseball. Beyond simply offering more things to nitpick, the de-awesome-ization of Trout's game is a threat to diminish his appeal as must-see TV. Particularly for East Coast viewers whose Trout-watching time is also valuable sleeping time.

And here's something else: As Trout's game becomes less interesting, it could become a greater issue that his personality isn't very appealing.

There's no denying how admirable it is that Trout is clean and humble when he's playing and well-behaved when he's not. But though he's similar to Jeter, Rob Neyer of Fox Sports was right when he wrote that Jeter had "a certain public grace" Trout doesn't. 

Rob Carr/Getty Images

Call it a matter of swagger. Jeter had a kind of "Yeah, I know I'm good" swagger that struck a perfect balance between humility and confidence. Trout has more of an "Aw, shucks" swagger that's all humility. And because that's the only note he hits, it's hard to get a good quote out of him.

So rather than a flat-out "yes," the best answer anyone can give to the question of if Trout can handle being the new Face of Baseball in 2015 is "Who knows?"

The answer very well could be yes. Even if he doesn't change his tune, Trout will continue to dominate the national landscape based on his play. Provided he reverts back to the great all-around player he was in 2012 and 2013 or at least carries on as the MVP-level slugger he was in 2014, of course.

But the answer could very well be no. If Trout becomes even more of a one-note player while continuing to be a one-dimensional personality, his status as the new Face of Baseball will be on thin ice. Consciously or not, the title could pass to someone like Posey, Clayton Kershaw, Felix Hernandez, Bryce Harper, Giancarlo Stanton or, if he's healthy, perhaps back to Miguel Cabrera.

In short, we'll see. After Trout made becoming the Face of Baseball look easy, carrying on as the Face of Baseball looks like a whole new challenge.

Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted/linked.

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