Mark Trumbo

Trumbo playing for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2011

Mark Daniel Trumbo (born January 16, 1986) is an American professional baseball first baseman and outfielder who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim from 2010 through 2013, for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2014 and 2015, for the Seattle Mariners in 2015 and for the Baltimore Orioles in 2016. Trumbo was an All-Star in 2012 and 2016.

Amateur career

Trumbo was born in Anaheim, California and played high school baseball at Villa Park High School in Villa Park, California.^[1] Growing up, Trumbo played travel baseball against current major leaguers Phil Hughes and Brandon Barnes.^[2] At Villa Park, Trumbo was a pitcher and infielder, and was a 2005 High School All-American after hitting .425 and going 10-2 with a 2.20 ERA on the mound.^[3]

Professional career

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Trumbo was selected by the Anaheim Angels in the 18th round (533rd overall) of the 2004 Major League Baseball Draft.^[4] He was promoted to the major leagues as part of the September roster expansions on September 3, 2010.^[5] He made his major league debut on September 11, 2010 as a pinch hitter for Mike Napoli and then remained in the game to play first base.

Trumbo entered the 2011 season looking for some early-season playing time at first base after an excellent spring in which he displayed his over credited power. Trumbo hit his first career home run on April 12, 2011, off Fausto Carmona of the Cleveland Indians. Although he planned to be a shortstop until Kendrys Morales' returned from injury, he became the Angels' full-time first baseman for the 2011 season due to Morales' season-ending surgery. He led all rookies with 29 home runs and 87 RBIs while batting .254 in his rookie campaign, but finished second in Rookie of the Year voting to Jeremy Hellickson of the Tampa Bay Rays. Trumbo also led the American League in putouts with 1,284 in 2011.

The Angels acquired Albert Pujols on December 8, 2011, which forced Trumbo to change positions. In the early stages of the 2012 season Trumbo and Alberto Callaspo shared time at third base; Trumbo also started games in left and right field as well as designated hitter.

On June 10, 2012, Trumbo had a career-high six RBIs on two three-run home runs in a game against the Colorado Rockies. Trumbo was selected for the 2012 Home Run Derby by AL captain Robinson Cano, advancing to the second round before being ousted in a playoff by Jose Bautista. Trumbo was elected to his first all-star game, which was the 2012 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, in his sophomore season.^[6]

Arizona Diamondbacks

The Angels traded Trumbo to the Arizona Diamondbacks in a three-team trade also involving the Chicago White Sox. The Angels received Tyler Skaggs and Hector Santiago, while the White Sox received Adam Eaton and the Diamondbacks also received two players to be named later.^[7][8] On April 6, Trumbo hit his 100th career home run, his 5th of the year, in a 5-3 win over the Rockies. On April 24, Trumbo was placed on the disabled list with a stress fracture in his left foot. He was removed from the disabled list on July 7.^[9]

Seattle Mariners

On June 3, 2015, the Diamondbacks traded Trumbo and Vidal Nuño to the Seattle Mariners for catcher Welington Castillo, reliever Dominic Leone, and prospects Gabby Guerrero and Jack Reinheimer.^[10]

Trumbo played in 96 games for the Mariners and slashed .263/.316/.419 while hitting 13 home runs, 13 doubles, and driving in 41 runs.

Baltimore Orioles

On December 2, 2015, the Mariners traded Trumbo and C. J. Riefenhauser to the Baltimore Orioles for Steve Clevenger.^[11] Trumbo went 4-for-5 in the first game of the 2016 season, his sixth career game with four hits.

Trumbo hit his first home run in an Orioles uniform on April 11, helping the Orioles improve to 6-0 on the season while beating the Red Sox 9-7. He homered again the next day in the Orioles 9-5 win over the Sox. Trumbo homered for the third time in four games on April 14, and on April 15, Trumbo became the first Oriole to hit two home runs in the same inning, driving in a total of 5 runs in the Orioles 11-5 comeback victory over the Rangers. It was Trumbo's eighth career multi-homer game.

Through his first ten games, Trumbo hit .400, five home runs, and had 11 RBI. Trumbo was later named AL co-Player of the week after slashing .320/.346/.960, hitting five homeruns, driving in 11 runs, and scoring eight times. For the month of April, Trumbo slashed .337/.385/.573 with a .958 OPS, six home runs, 19 RBIs, and three doubles.

Trumbo collected his ninth career multi-homer game on May 3 in a 4-1 victory over the Yankees. On May 11, Trumbo had his tenth career multi-homer game, this time against the Minnesota Twins in a 9-2 Orioles victory. Trumbo finished May with a slash line of .239/.291/.550. Despite the low average, he hit nine homeruns in the month and collected 18 RBIs. He also added five doubles and a triple. In a 12-7 victory over the Red Sox on June 2, Trumbo and the Orioles blasted a season-high seven home runs, two of which belonged to Trumbo. Trumbo had a strong June, as he slashed .281/.328/.553 while blasting eight home runs and driving in 23 runs. Trumbo helped the O's go 19-9 in the month. He was later selected to participate in the Home Run Derby and was selected to his second career All-Star Game. In the derby, Trumbo hit 16 home runs in the first round and 14 in the second, eventually losing to the Derby champion Giancarlo Stanton.

On August 18, Trumbo set a new career high in home runs, 35, against the Houston Astros. On August 22, Trumbo hit a go-ahead 2-run home run against the Washington Nationals. With the home run, he collected his 500th career RBI. The home run was also his seventh consecutive hit being a home run. On August 28, Trumbo hit his 40th home run of the season. He became the fifth-fastest Oriole to hit their 40th home run in a season (Chris Davis, Jim Gentile, Brady Anderson & Frank Robinson). On September 18, Trumbo set a new career high in RBI's, with 101, by hitting his 43rd home run of the year against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Trumbo hit his league-leading 44th home run of the year on September 23 in a 3-2 walkoff victory over the Diamondbacks. It was the fifth walkoff home run of his career.

Trumbo ended his career year having played in 159 games, slashing .256/.316/.533 while hitting a Major League-leading 47 home runs and driving in 108 RBIs. Trumbo tied a career-high in games played and on-base percentage, while setting career-highs in runs scored, hits, home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage and OPS. His 47 home runs tied him for fourth most home runs in a single season in Orioles franchise history, tied with teammate Chris Davis.

The Orioles finished the season 89-73, qualifying for the final postseason spot. In the Orioles Wild Card game, Trumbo hit a fourth inning 2-run home run to give the Orioles an early 2-1 lead. The O's would go on to lose 5-2 in 11 innings.

Trumbo was awarded the AL Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year Award for his accomplishments during the 2016 season. He also won the Silver Slugger Award, the first of his career.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mark Trumbo.

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Baseball Almanac
• Mark Trumbo on Twitter