Let’s Watch Felix Hernandez and Mike Trout Face Off Forever

Mike Trout is the best baseball player, so he’s automatically interesting. Felix Hernandez is probably not one of the best baseball players, but he has been recently enough that he remains interesting. On Saturday, Felix pitched and Trout hit, and as we all learned in school, Interesting * Interesting = Interesting^2. That’s extremely interesting! In this post, we’ll review the game’s first at-bat between the two. It was the kind of at-bat that leaves you thinking and talking about it days later, which, well, yeah, that’s what we’re doing here.

Felix and Trout have an extended and colorful history. You’re probably aware of that part, but just in case, Trout debuted in the majors in 2011, and he has a career .963 OPS. Felix, meanwhile, since 2011, has allowed a .644 OPS. So who’s been the winner in their 88 individual showdowns? Trout has managed a 1.143 OPS. He has the most hits against Felix of anyone. He has the most homers against Felix of anyone. Trout has been better against Felix than he’s been against the rest of the league combined, and that doesn’t make sense, but here we are. Context only adds to the intrigue. Let’s get rolling.

Entering Saturday, Trout’s longest-ever plate appearance went 13 pitches. That happened between Trout and Chris Sale in August 2015. And, entering Saturday, Felix’s longest-ever plate appearance went 13 pitches. That happened between Felix and Miguel Cabrera in August 2016. Great players, all of them. Great showdowns, both of them. In Saturday’s bottom of the first, with two out and nobody on, Felix and Trout kept going and going. A conclusion was reached after 14 pitches. Here’s the first of them:

Although Trout has become more aggressive with age, he’s still disciplined, still atypically patient. Far more often than not, Trout’s content to watch the first pitch sail by, and especially when said first pitch occupies an area near a border. Felix doesn’t throw gas anymore, but he still has his movement, and he’s unhittable when he has his command. This first-pitch fastball was commanded well over the black, and Felix was rewarded with an 0-and-1 count. On to pitch No. 2:

You’ve probably heard something about Felix’s offseason. This was the offseason when he worked out like a crazy person to try to build up his lower-body strength. Aside from that, though, Felix was also given orders to work on a high fastball. He’s lived below the thigh forever, but this is turning into a low-ball-hitting league, and the Mariners wanted to see Felix work on changing the eye level. Here, we have a high target and a high pitch. Trout, as you also presumably know, has gone through phases where high fastballs have given him fits. The bat finds the ball here, but it’s a harmless foul, running the count to 0-and-2. Why not go back to the well?

The fastball is high — too high to be a strike. It’s not too high to maybe get a swing, but this is Mike Trout, not some piss-poor jabroni, so Trout watches the ball fly by the letters. A great two-strike pitch, but ultimately a ball. With that, the count inched over in Trout’s direction. The 1-and-2 delivery:

Here’s the a problem with facing Trout: He’s the game’s best low-ball hitter, so you want to attack him high. Yet he also makes immediate adjustments and he’s no dummy with regard to pattern recognition, so you can’t only attack him high. You have to mix things up and explore the lower half. Except that Trout’s the game’s best low-ball hitter. It’s all sort of a no-win scenario. Trout, at some point, is gonna get you. Even here, Trout didn’t get Felix, but he fights off what was a perfect changeup for the situation. The pitch was down. It’s how Felix wanted to execute. Trout kept himself alive to see another 1-and-2 delivery:

Watch Mike Zunino’s head. He nods along — that’s what he wanted, even though Trout wasn’t put away. It’s an elevated fastball around the outer black, and although Trout isn’t incapable of punishing that pitch, it at least makes things hard for him. Another foul. On to No. 6:

Pitch No. 6 is similar to pitch No. 2. It’s similar, also, to pitch No. 3. The idea is to get Trout tied up, up and in. As the ball arrives, you can see Zunino try to sell the pitch for an extra split-second. The pitch missed the target by maybe a few inches, but it missed in the right direction. The camera angle is deceptive; this wasn’t so close to being a strike that framing could make a difference. Yet, a quality pitch. A quality pitch that Trout couldn’t punish. The problem is that pitches Trout can’t punish are typically balls. At 2-and-2:

The at-bat’s first breaking ball! For six pitches, Felix had shown fastballs and a changeup. He set the expectation right around 90 miles per hour. This curve went in around 82, and it couldn’t have been spotted any better. Off the plate, low and away, but it looked like a strike for long enough to get Trout to commit. Pause that video right around the moment of contact. Trout’s lunging, and his body position is ugly. We see right-handed hitters flail through those pitches dozens of times every day. Contact. Foul. Trout found the baseball, just enough, and the longer you stay alive, the more likely the pitcher is to make a mistake.

Oof.

Felix doesn’t throw that many sliders. His preferred breaking ball is the curve, by a considerable margin, and the slider is just kind of there in case of emergency. Maybe getting to eight pitches against Mike Trout counts as an emergency, but this slider is bad. This is the pitch where Trout could’ve won the at-bat. Where he could’ve gone deep against Felix for the eighth career time. The pitch was supposed to be low and away. Righty-righty sliders are almost always supposed to be low and away. This wound up above the knee and over the heart. Trout just missed, plain and simple. Two mistakes were made, with Felix getting lucky the ball didn’t fly 400 feet, and with Trout getting lucky the ball made it to the stands. Both players got another opportunity.

This is the pitch where things got silly. Pitch No. 9, where Trout fights off another quality changeup below the zone. The pitch is just as good as Pitch No. 4, and this is how Felix loves to put righties away, but you can see that the annoyance has mounted. Look at Felix’s head right after he sees the ball go foul. He looks off, wondering what it could possibly take to make Trout go away. Trout, for his part, was enjoying himself.

This is where it stopped being about Mariners vs. Angels, and started being about two elite baseball players showing off. Trout was having some sort of exchange with Zunino, Zunino presumably telling him, “hey, quit it.” It’s funny. It’s funny to be amazing.

Pitch No. 10 is a better version of pitch No. 6. Another high-inside fastball, this one conceivably close enough for Zunino to be able to sell. Once more, he tried, and once more, it didn’t work, with Trout earning a full count. This is exactly the pitch the Mariners wanted. Trout won it. On to No. 11:

I don’t think this was supposed to be a swing-and-miss pitch. A low fastball like that isn’t usually much of a swing-and-miss pitch. I think this was supposed to be a catch-him-looking pitch, with Trout maybe thinking about a breaking ball or another heater inside, but Trout attacked and fought this fastball off, getting enough to stay on Felix’s nerves. Trout was just having a grand old time.

A dozen. The Angels’ first batter of the game got out on the second pitch. The Angels’ second batter of the game got out on the first.

Another perfect curveball, just like pitch No. 7. Another Trout commitment, another Trout lunge. Everything went right for the Mariners, except for the contact, with Trout cutting off his swing a little bit to just try to poke the ball somewhere. It was a good thing, I think, this blooper didn’t drop in fair — that’s not how these matchups should end. Bloopers satisfy no one. Triumph should be more conclusive.

Because Trout ran down the line, he had a chance to be closer to Felix than he had been up to that point. Felix was probably having less fun, of the two of them.

To 13!

Another well-placed fastball on the outer edge. Another foul ball, with Trout this time using a flatter swing path. I don’t know if he read something, or if it was an accident, or what, but Trout’s bat path is usually steep, and here it looks more or less even, horizontal. Officially, Trout and Felix were in for their longest-ever plate appearance. It was only a question of whether 14 would be enough.

I love the way this ended. Not because Felix won, and Trout lost, but because in a sense, nobody lost. Look at this thing:

I know I said earlier you want these showdowns to be conclusive. And it’s fitting for this to end with a strikeout. But it’s a called strikeout, on a fastball right on the edge, and this is one of those coin-flip decisions. This would’ve been an easy pitch to call a strike. It also would’ve been an easy pitch to call a ball. Given the location, neither call would’ve been the *wrong* one, because there’s nothing you can do about the reality of the gray area. Felix Hernandez earned a 14-pitch strikeout. With almost nothing at all being different, Mike Trout would’ve earned a 14-pitch walk. Felix won, but they both won, neither being better than the other. On paper, the Angels would dispute that Trout won anything. That was the last out of the frame. Remove this from the context of the game situation, though, and it’s April baseball at its best. It scratches every itch.

Still, Trout was out. He was out because of a borderline call. How’d he take it?

Is that-

Mike Trout struck out, and he smiled. Mike Trout might be baseball’s biggest baseball fan.