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Is Mike Trout stealing bases a double-edge sword? | Baseball Bar-B-Cast

Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman

Yahoo Sports senior MLB analysts Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman discuss Mike Trout’s return after a left hamate injury and whether or not they’re excited to see him steal more bases this season. Hear the full conversation on the “Baseball Bar-B-Cast” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

JAKE MINTZ: Hate it or love it? Mike Trout. Mike Trout is back. He has eight home runs so far this year. But more importantly for our conversation, he has five stolen bases. He's going to eclipse the amount he's stolen, I think, over the last six years combined. This is a guy who stole 49 bases in his age 20 season, when he won Rookie of the Year. And then he was like 33 bases, and then he kind of plateaued in like the mid-20s.

That he is back stealing bases is a double-edged sword. Jordan, do you hate this or love this?

JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: I love this because at this point Mike Trout has been injured sliding into second base before. Right? That is a thing that has happened. However, Mike Trout's durability at this point I don't think is going to come down whether he's stealing bases or not. This is just a thing that he's dealing with, whether it's soft tissue stuff, the calf strain-- things like that.

So to that point, he's like, "No. I'm going to go play baseball to my maximum capability." And that's the coolest thing ever. Him maybe hitting 50 home runs this year would be not surprising. But I'm glad now his stolen bases have come back into the sport that Mike Trout, who is still one of the 20 fastest players in the league somehow, even though he's built like a linebacker and is 32 years old-- I hope that he is part of that because he should be.

JAKE MINTZ: Every time that he steals, though, I'm like-- [EXCLAIMS] it's like watching a kid cross the street.

JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: Yeah. I mean, I guess. I mean, I'm sure he's going to at least be a little bit more cognizant of how he's sliding. But I don't know. I'm just enjoying it.