The Man Who Looked Exactly Like Mike Trout

 

So even as their team has a decent enough go of things so far this year, Angels fans are having fun with Hunter Renfroe. Not because he's a great player, as, well, they are having fun with that aspect too. And not because this is his fifth team in the last five seasons, after playing for San Diego, Tampa, Boston and Milwaukee, though that is also pretty curious. No, it's because he's playing for the Angels and he almost exactly resembles his teammate, Mike Trout.

So many people online have had fun with the compare/contrast, how combining their faces equals a full baseball player with even symmetry. This is something people had even been commenting on for years before, and the Brewers' social media had some fun with it as well. It's a very fun perk, and it does help that both Trout and Renfroe are playing well right now. Granted, Renfroe is no Mike Trout, but Renfroe's not doing too badly, either, hitting .254 with 21 RBIs and 7 homers. 

The one thing about the Angels is that they're still a very good power team, even if contact isn't quite everyone's forte quite yet. This team has people like Taylor Ward, Brandon Drury, Anthony Rendon and, yes, Trout, Renfroe and Ohtani, who can bat runs in and pound balls into the outfield. There are contact hitters hiding here, like Gio Urshela, who's continued his steady work given to any team lucky enough to give him a starting spot. And there are people who, if they were a little luckier right now, would be contact helpers, like Luis Rengifo and new rookie Zach Neto. 

But...the tricky part about a lot of these power hitters is that several of them were signed with the understanding that they'd hit for contact as well. I mean, we figured Anthony Rendon would trail off, but not quite to this extent. Ward was hitting for average last year and now he's hitting .230. Drury hit .274 for the Reds and now he's hitting .248. Yes, Drury has 7 homers and 19 RBIs, so it's not all bad, but I think Phil Kevin was hoping this team would have more offensive dimensions.

Trout and Ohtani aren't the problem, they're doing what they always do, and well at that. I just think that having so many guys turn out to be lower-average power hitters, along with so many pitchers having disappointing Aprils, is just another setback for these Angels teams. They're good, and they're better than they have been right now, but with the Rangers surging, and the Astros...being the Astros, I don't know if this style of offense will cut it for the whole time.

Coming Tonight: A future Hall of Famer who is just having another career year because he can.