DENVER — An off day in Denver provided everything Los Angeles Angels superstar Mike Trout could possibly want away from the diamond.
Oh sure, his beloved Philadelphia Eagles still haven't started training camp yet, but a break in the MLB schedule ahead of a three-game series in the Mile High City against the Colorado Rockies gave Trout a chance to visit TPC Colorado about an hour north of Denver and not only get in a round of golf, but also grab some ideas for the golf course he is building along with Tiger Woods in southern New Jersey.
When Trout National-The Reserve likely opens in 2025, it will be the culmination of a dream for Trout, who plays golf on his off days and every chance he gets during the baseball season. Trout, who says he carries a seven or eight handicap and is well known for his viral terrorizing of golf balls at TopGolf, said that TPC Colorado will join courses throughout the country where he has played and perhaps taken a piece or two of their designs with him into the studio where his dreams are about to become reality.
"I get a feel of what I want and what we want," Trout said. "Every course I play, I try to take something from it just to see if it could fit into what we're doing."
Angels superstar Mike Trout talks golf, weather, baseball and more
Yes, golf is a passion of Trout's when he isn't manning center field for the Angels. But there's another passion of Trout's away from the ballpark that he was able to put into play while in Denver as well. While playing at TPC Colorado, the unpredictable Colorado weather made an appearance, triggering the self-proclaimed "weather guy" to try to see what was going on with the storms at altitude.
"We got to about the 13th hole and it rained a little bit. There was some good lightning, which was pretty cool to see because you don't see it on the West Coast," Trout said.
Saying he relies on the Weather Channel app when on the road, Trout and crew cleared the course and headed back toward Denver, which was being hit in the suburbs by an EF-1 tornado at the same time lightning was making an impression on Trout. The wild weather gave Trout plenty to dive into on the app and scour through on social media as the drive was made south on Interstate 25.
While golf and weather are passions of Trout's, the trip to Denver was, after all, a business trip. Coors Field is a place where Trout has hit well throughout his 13-year MLB career, slashing .457/.569/.826 (that's an eye-popping OPS of 1.395, by the way) in 58 plate appearances before Sunday's series finale. That OPS in Denver is the highest of any city where he has played more than 10 games, and his love for hitting at Coors Field showed itself again on Saturday night as Trout smashed a 451-foot home run to straightaway center field, the first of what would be three Angels home runs on three pitches as part of a 25-1 rout.
The night before, Trout and Shohei Ohtani had connected on back-to-back home runs, marking the ninth time in their careers the duo had teamed up on consecutive homers. It tied a franchise record for back-to-back jacks that Trout holds with Albert Pujols, helping bookmark his incredible career with a pair of legendary hitters in their own rights.
"I've been very fortunate to see this every day," said Trout, who has had either Pujols or Ohtani as a teammate since 2012. "You just have to sit back and enjoy every minute of it. And with Shohei, it's been truly amazing to see what he has been doing on both sides of the ball."
The same could likely be said by Pujols and Ohtani about their time being teammates with Trout as well. The 31-year-old Trout has a solid chance to start his 10th consecutive All-Star Game on July 11 in Seattle. Only eight other players in MLB history have started 10 consecutive Midsummer Classics and all eight are in the Hall of Fame. Trout will no doubt join them one day in Cooperstown, with his 84.9 career bWAR tying him for the 33rd-most in MLB history. Take out non-outfielders and Trout comes in at number 30.
Trout has put up the numbers throughout his career, but tasting the postseason has been one thing that has eluded him except for a three-game sweep of the Angels at the hands of the Kansas City Royals in 2014. This season, however, could give Trout another chance to play meaningful October baseball. Los Angeles entered Sunday's game with a 42-36 mark and tied for the final AL Wild Card spot. The Angels also seem to have a buyer's mentality, making two trades for veteran infielders over the weekend to boost their roster, with Eduardo Escobar coming over from the Mets and Mike Moustakas swapping clubhouses in Denver in a Rockies-Angels trade.
Moustakas will be a familiar face for Trout in the Angels clubhouse, with the two playing together for USA Baseball as part of the 2010 Pan American Qualifying Team. It's also a sign that, as Angels manager Phil Nevin said on Saturday about the team's mentality of being a postseason contender, "you get this sense like, 'Alright, we're in this and let's go.'"
"He's a veteran. He has good at-bats, plays great defense. He can hit the ball out of the yard. He can help this team for sure," Trout said of his friend and new teammate.
After playing on Angels teams with losing records since 2015, the vibes in the Angels clubhouse are filled with hope of what's to come as Trout and Ohtani lead their squad against what will be plenty of formidable foes in their own division alone. The road to the postseason is by no means guaranteed for Los Angeles, but Trout knows the talent is there for the Angels to break their playoff skid, joining the Detroit Tigers as the longest in all of MLB.
Trout wants to win. It's that simple, and it doesn't matter if it's baseball, golf or even getting the right weather forecast. And we haven't even talked about fantasy football, where he was called out by Tommy Pham after an incident in the league that led to an in-person altercation between Pham and Joc Pederson.
So what is Trout's best piece of fantasy football advice for the upcoming season?
"Draft all Eagles," Trout says as he ends the interview and bolts down the tunnel toward the Angels clubhouse.
After all, Trout may be chasing his passions while in Denver, but he has a job to do.
