Pick your poison: Mike Trout or Bryce Harper?
It's good that Major League Baseball gives out Rookie of the Year awards in both leagues because this two-man show is too good to resist.
Trout, a 20-year-old centre fielder, is taking the American League by storm with the Los Angeles Angels. Harper, a 19-year-old outfielder, is doing the same in the National League for the Washington Nationals.
Examples of their influence could be seen on Monday night. Out on the west coast, Trout hit a towering home run for the Angels against the Los Angeles Dodgers, their crosstown rivals, drove in the tying run and then helped manufacture the winning run in the ninth inning of a 3-2 win.
That same night back east in Toronto, Harper had three hits, a walk, two runs, an RBI and a stolen base in a 6-3 win by the Nationals. He homered the next night and launched a new catch phrase afterwards.
Harper responded to a reporter's question about celebrating by saying: "That's a clown question, bro'."
It's a clown question to try to figure out which one of these players is having a bigger impact for his team. Harper leads NL rookies in batting average (.303) and is second in on-base percentage (.384) and slugging percentage (.548). Trout is leading AL rookies in all three of those critical offensive categories, with a .341 batting average, .401 on-base percentage, and .541 slugging percentage.
The best part is that no one will have to choose between them.
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