All-Star Game proves baseball is a young man’s sport – Boston Globe

Baseball feels young again.

The Angels’ Mike Trout, one of the new young faces of baseball, won the All-Star game MVP, touching off a good night for the American League with a leadoff homer in the first inning off Dodgers righthander Zach Greinke to lead them to a 6-3 win.

“I was just looking fastball,” Trout said of the 1-2 pitch. “It’s the All-Star Game, who doesn’t get excited? Once it got to two strikes I calmed myself down and just looked for the fastball. I just barrelled it and it went out.”

“This is a tremendous talent,” said National League manager Bruce Bochy. “He’s got the whole game.”

Trout, 1 for 3, won the award over Prince Fielder, who drove in two runs, for the second consecutive year. In his All-Star career he’s now hitting .500 (5 for 10) in four appearances.

“When you look at Mike you’re not just looking at a 23-year-old, you’re looking at one of the best players on the planet,” said American League manager Ned Yost.

The Orioles’ Manny Machado, a 23-year-old phenom third baseman, also had a big hit and RBI and is part of the youth movement.

“The game is changing,” Machado said. “It’s definitely a younger man’s game and it’s exciting to see what’s happening. I think we’re all pretty close because we know we’re going to either be playing together or competing against one another for a long time. So there’s a nice bond between all of us that we hope to continue throughout our careers.”

Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper struck out twice in an 0-for-3 night, but he’s arguably been baseball’s best player this season at age 22.

“It’s definitely a young person’s sport,” said the budding superstar. “It’s definitely evolving that way. The game has definitely changed younger and more of an international sport.

“We enjoy going out there and playing,” Harper said. “I have no idea why we have so many good young players now. We have a guy, Joe Ross in our system, who throws 98 miles per hour. I can’t wait to see him. It’s part of the game now. I don’t have an answer for it. Being able to have Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, Mike Trout and Andrew McCutchen. It’s truly impressive. The game wouldn’t be here like it is if it wasn’t for the guys before us and the other guys in the game.”

Harper has developed and grown up in the majors after entering MLB at age 19.

He was joined by Machado, Trout, Giancarlo Stanton (injured), Jose Altuve, Joc Pederson, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Nolan Arenado, Gerrit Cole, Salvador Perez, Kelvin Herrera, Madison Bumgarner, Shelby Miller, Carlos Martinez, Trevor Rosenthal, Michael Wacha, Sonny Gray, Jose Iglesias, and Joe Panik as All-Stars 25 and under.

Trout is hitting .312 with 26 homers, 55 RBIs, 18 doubles, nine stolen bases, and a .405 on base percentage and .614 slugging percentage.

Albert Pujols told him to go deep to lead off the game and he obliged.

“He definitely told me to go deep,” Trout said. “[Pujols] means so much to me the way I can go ask him questions. We wouldn’t be in first place without him.”

Trout is just one of four major leaguers with an OPS of more than 1.0. At 1.019 he’s fourth behind Harper (1.168), Paul Goldschmidt (1.064), and Miguel Cabrera (1.034) who is on the disabled list.

Rizzo, who will soon leave the 25-year-old and under club, has become a leader with the Cubs. Rizzo is batting .298 with 16 homers, 48 RBIs and is just under the 1.00 OPS leaders with a .955 OPS. Rizzo, a former Red Sox farmhand, went to San Diego in the Adrian Gonzalez deal. Gonzalez was also an All-Star.

“It’s great that there’s such great young talent in the league,” said Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira. “We need that. We need good young players to come in and become the excitement of the game. We have so many of them in this game and we have a lot of guys who are young who will play in this game soon. So things look great for baseball down the road.”

One of those non-All Stars is Xander Bogaerts, 22, who many believed should have made the All-Star team over Brock Holt. There are others such as Miami’s Jose Fernandez, who just returned from Tommy John surgery, and Houston shortstop Carlos Correa, just 20, who will add to the under-25 All-Star club soon.

Players seem to be coming up from the minors earlier. Pitchers are throwing harder when they’re younger. Teams are trying to save costs by going with younger players rather than pay exorbitant contracts to players over 30.

When Harper was told that perhaps the over-35 player is pretty much a dinosaur, he said, “Yeah, like Albert Pujols? He doesn’t play old.”

Harper says he has respect for the older players, who have taught him the ropes. It’s like during the pregame festivities while the national anthem was being played, Max Scherzer and Harper both stayed on the field as a sign of respect. Those are the moments Harper has gained experience from.

Harper used to come off as a cocky immature kid who had a lot of growing up to do. Well, he’s arrived in every area — life and baseball. He’s become one of the humble people, grateful for everything he has and for the player he’s become.

Machado keeps showing why he may be the best third baseman in baseball. He had a double, drove in a run, and scored.

“I think it was a big hit at the time,” Machado said. “I think it contributed to our win and that’s what you want to do as a young guy playing in this game. I played last year, but this was a lot better for us.”

It was a lot better for everyone.

It has become a young man’s sport and baseball is the better for it.