Magic Mike Trout Graces Another Cover, an AL MVP Could Be Next

Millville native Mike Trout graced the cover of another sports publication this week.

The Anaheim Angels CF is on the cover of ESPN The Magazine being labeled as "Magic Mike."

This is Trout's second appearance on the cover of a major publication, in August Sports Illustrated featured the rookie phenom on the cover labeling him as a "supernatural."

No doubt subscribers in South Jersey to these two magazines are proud of the New Jersey native, he's in the front seat for A.L. M.V.P.

According to many baseball insiders, the M.V.P. race has two horses: Detroit Tigers 1B Miguel Cabrera and Trout, with Derek Jeter and Adrian Beltre quietly in the mix.

As of Tuesday, Trout's .329 batting average stands one point behind Cabrera for the league lead, while his 116 runs scored leads Major League Baseball. Cabrera is currently tied for the league lead in runs batted in, while Trout leads the league with 45 stolen bases, being thrown out only four times.

The MVP race is so tight it has both teams managers campaigning for their players down the stretch.

"It would blow my mind if Miggy doesn't win it. I'm not being partial, it's right there in front of everybody," Tigers manager Jim Leyland told reporters.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia told reporters in August that his age (21) should have no baring on the award whatsoever.

"To Mike's credit the numbers are so incredibly off the charts he deserves recognition, I don't think length of service has anything at all to do with the MVP."

The MVP award is declared by the Baseball Writers Association of America, two writers from each league city cast their votes at the conclusion of the regular season, the winner(s) are announced after the World Series.

Surprisingly, Trout and the Angels would miss out on the playoffs if they started today, remaining three games behind Baltimore for the second Wild-Card spot.

e-mail Pete Giordano: 973espn@gmail.com