Mike Trout joined another Hall of Fame club, although this is one he’d probably have rather avoided.
Trout finished second to Miguel Cabrera for the American League MVP, which was revealed on Thursday, making him just the 12th player to finish second in the MVP race in consecutive seasons.
The others include Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Eddie Murray, Cecil Fielder, Stan Musial, Albert Pujols, Dizzy Dean, Johnny Mize, Sandy Koufax and Mike Piazza.
Trout received five first-place votes – one fewer than last year – from the 30 voters, two representing each American League city. Cabrera got 23 votes. Third-place finisher Chris Davis and fourth-place finisher Josh Donaldson each got one vote.
Trout’s first-place votes came from Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com, Joe Posnanski of NBC Sports, Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star, Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports and Brendan Kennedy of the Toronto Star.
Trout, 22, followed up his Rookie of the Year season in 2012 by hitting .323 with 27 homers and 97 RBI in 2013. He lead the league with 110 walks and 109 runs.
It was not enough unseat Cabrera, who improved most of his numbers in 2013 even though he didn’t win another Triple Crown. Cabrera led the league with a .343 average, .442 on-base percentage and .636 slugging percentage. He was second with 44 homers and 137 RBI, finishing behind Davis in both categories.
Cabrera became the 13th player to win the award at least two years in a row, including Barry Bonds, who won four in a row. Pujols was the last repeat winner, in 2008 and 2009.
