Player Profile: Mark Trumbo
Mark Trumbo, Born January 16th, 1986, is entering his fourth year of service with the Baltimore Orioles. Trumbo was drafted 533rd overall In the 18th round of the 2004 draft by the Anaheim Angels.
From 2005 through September 2010, Trumbo showcased solid numbers and proved his power at the plate while progressively moving up in the Angels system each year.
On September 3rd, 2010, Trumbo was called up to the majors for the first time. Trumbo’s major league debut took place on September 11th, and he finished the remaining of the season with the Angels.
In Mark Trumbo’s rookie season in 2011, he showed right away he was an asset to the Los Angeles Angels. Following a season ending to injury to Kendrys Morales, Trumbo became the everyday first baseman. Trumbo showed he was ready for the majors, leading all rookies in homeruns with 29. Trumbo also finished the year with 87 RBIs and a .254 average, good enough to land him the second spot in the 2011 rookie of the year voting.
In late 2011, the Angles signed future hall of famer Albert Puljos, who took the first base job. And in 2012 Trumbo played multiple positions including third base, left and right field, as well as DH
The 2012 season was Trumbo’s first all starts season. The Angels slugger had a slash line of .268/.317/.491. His .268 average that year would still stand as his highest average in his career. Trumbo was a participant in the Homerun Derby in 2012, and eventually finished the year with 32 Homerun while recording 95 RBIs on the season.
In 2014, Mark Trumbo was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks, where he would hit his 100th career Homerun in an April game against the Rockies. Later in the season, Trumbo experienced his first injury, being placed on the 15-day DL due to a stress fracture in his left foot.
Mark Trumbo started the 2015 season in Arizona, until he was once again traded in June to the Seattle Mariners. Trumbo would play 96 games in Seattle that season, proving his worth by hitting 13 homers and knocking in 41 RBIs in that second half of the season.
On December, 2nd 2015, the Baltimore Orioles would trade Steve Clevenger to the Mariners, bringing Trumbo to Baltimore, adding another slugger to Buck Showalter’s already high powered offense.
Mark Trumbo would have the best season of his career in Baltimore in 2016. He would start his time with the Orioles red hot, hitting 5 homers with 11 RBIs in his first 10 games, also becoming he first Oriole to ever homer in the same inning during that stretch in early April.
2016 would also be a record year for Trumbo, when on August 18th against the Astros, he hit his career high in homeruns (35) but he wouldn’t be done there. Later that week, Trumbo would knock in his 500th career RBI in a game against the Washington Nationals.
Later in August 2016, Trumbo would cement himself in Baltimore Orioles history, becoming the 5th fastest Oriole to hit 40 homeruns in one season, joining Chris Davis, Jim Gentile, Brady Anderson, and the late Frank Robinson.
Mark Trumbo would be voted to his second All Star and Homerun Derby in 2016, helping push the orioles the a wild card berth, where he scored the Orioles only two runs on a line drive home run the left field in an 11th inning loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.
At the end of the 2016 season, Trumbo would add to his fantastic season, being name the AL Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year, and also led the league in homeruns with 47, while seeing the least amount of fastballs of all hitters at 47%.
Mark Trumbo rounding third following his 2-run Homerun in the 2016 AL Wildcard game in Toronto October 4th, 2016
Mark Trumbo’s standout season wouldn’t go unnoticed, as he was given a 3 year contract extension worth $37.5 million in January 2017.
2017 was a down year for Trumbo, smashing only 23 homeruns and recoding his career low average at .234. Despite the off year, Trumbo added another milestone in September, when he hit his 200th career homer off of Yankees starter, CC Sabathia. Trumbo would also lead the league in walk off hits that season with four.
Trumbo started off the 2018 season on th disabled list, not being activated until May 1st. In a shortened 2018 campaign, Trumbo still managed a .261 average with 17 homers and 44 RBIs. Trumbo season would end early due to a season ending knee surgery. Trumbo would only play 90 games in 2018, a career low.
We have yet to see Mark Trumbo in spring action so far in 2019, but he hopes to return to action sometime in mid March. Both Trumbo and new manager, Brandon Hyde, have hope Trumbo can return strong this season and be a positive veteran influence on the young core of the Baltimore Orioles.
So far in his career, Mark Trumbo has proved himself as a slugger, hitting 218 total homeruns and knocking in 626 total RBIs with a career average of .250.
