Mike Trout talks to Halos Heaven about stolen base goals, Kobe Bryant, and staying grounded

Interviewer’s note: Despite a billion test attempts, the call recording feature failed during the interview, so what follows is a close representation of the actual interview that took place. Even a test after the interview yielded a successful result. Go figure that it would fail during the ACUTAL interview. Still, I had an amazing chat with Mike Trout and it was great to hear his positivity, focus for, and love of the game. Opportunities like that don’t come around very often. Hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed the conversation and writeup!

Tuesday morning I had the opportunity of having a phone conversation with none other than Mike Trout. Being the largest (and best) Angels fan site on the Internet offers us some unique and special opportunities. This was one of them! As you may know, Trout is a BodyArmor athlete. Their new campaign titled “Obsession is Natural” has just launched and includes a slew of talented and amazing athletes. Be sure and check out the video below.

I had this chance to talk to Trout about BodyArmor, cheesesteaks, training, Mike Scioscia, his season outlook, and who is the king of fast casual burgers.

Halos Heaven: Good morning Mike and thank you for taking the time to speak with me on behalf of Halos Heaven.

Mike Trout: My pleasure. How are you?

HH: I’m great thank you. I want to get this going with a very important question since you are from close to Philly. What is your favorite cheesesteak - Geno’s or Pat’s?

MT: Oh I’d have to say both are good. It’s hard to pick either.

HH: So you’ve had them both?

MT: Of course I have.

HH: Okay, in all seriousness, I wanted to talk to you about the new BodyArmor campaign you are doing. Apparently you got together with a bunch of other athletes including Kobe Bryant, who served as creative director and narrator. Can you tell me about this?

MT: It was an amazing experience. Working with Kobe was great and we have a similar passion to work hard and we share a lot of the same values.

Interviewer’s note: Mike Trout had a LOT to say about his great experience working with Kobe and this BodyArmor campaign. He was very excited and animated during this portion of the interview. I don’t want to misquote him so I didn’t include all he said here. You could definitely hear his passion here.

HH: Yeah I saw the video and it was pretty awesome. What was it like filming that?

Below: BODYARMOR Sports Drink: Obsession Is Natural, Created by Kobe Bryant

MT: I had a great time doing all this stuff in there and filming. It was a really good experience.

HH: Did you get to work with any of the other athletes besides Kobe or was it mostly just you?

MT: Yeah just me. Of course I’ve met many of the other athletes but not during this filming.

HH: I’ve been intrigued by BodyArmor for a while but it’s not readily available in a lot of places. What can you tell me about the drink and why you love it?

MT: It keeps my hydrated. It’s all natural. Natural flavors. Natural sweetener. It’s made with coconut water and it also helps keep you from cramping. The Angels even have it in the clubhouse now and that’s great. Staying hydrated is important.

Through its investment from Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, BODYARMOR is now widely available in all 50 states at retailers such as Kroger, Sam’s Club, Target, WaWa and QuikTrip.

HH: That’s great. I’d like to see it out there more. To be honest, I didn’t even know it had coconut water until recently. Do you have a favorite flavor?

MT: Right now it would have to be Blackout Berry but they have so many great flavors.

Blackout Berry is a Kobe-inspired flavor, which Kobe named after his tendency to work out so hard that he would black out.

HH: Everyone has seen how high you can jump and how athletic you are on the field. There was also that box jump video posted a few years ago. So who wins in a slam dunk contest, you or Kobe?

MT: Oh Kobe, hands down. He’s phenomenal.

HH: Well I think you might be selling yourself a little short, but he does have a bit of an advantage since he played basketball.

MT: Yeah he does.

HH: Tell me a bit about your off season training and how much time did you take off after the season last year?

MT: I took about a month off. My trainer Dan Richter puts together a great routine for me. I also get to work out with other guys like my brother-in-law Aaron Cox who plays for the Angels in the minors.

HH: So what do you do with that month then?

MT: Rest, relax. Spend time with my family and fiancee. It’s a long season so I need some time to recharge.

HH: Definitely. Speaking of the grind, how do you handle those tough stretches like you guys have had over the past few days?

MT: It’s hard. Try to stay positive. It’s a long season and it will come back around. You try to think about those first few weeks where you had a great start to the season.

HH: What are some of your expectations for yourself and the team this season?

MT: To win. You know you want to go out there and win games and be in the hunt at the end of the season. Be right there in it and make it to the playoffs.

HH: I read this somewhere but I’m not sure if you actually said it. I know you don’t like to talk about personal goals too much but do you have any plans to steal a specific number of bases?

MT: Not a specific number. I think 30 is always a cool number though for guys who are trying to steal bases. It’s a good number to reach.

Below: Mike Trout steals base #30 in 2016

HH: Do you pay much attention to stats or advanced metrics?

MT: Not really. There’s a lot of stuff out there with sabermetrics and all that. I don’t understand most of it. I just go out there and play.

HH: I’ve heard from a semi trusted source that Kole used to be a bit of a goofball and maybe still is. Do you guys have a clubhouse clown?

MT (laughs): That’s funny. Yeah Kole is pretty outgoing and funny. So is CJ Cron. We have a good time with this group of guys.

HH: If you could sum up Mike Scioscia in one sentence, what would you say?

MT: Incredible manager. Knows the game so well. He’s smart and great for the guys on the team. It’s hard to do in just a sentence.

HH: With all this talk about you already being one of the greatest players in the game, how do you keep yourself grounded and just play?

MT: I had good upbringing. I have a great family and fiancee and I’ve had a good influence from them. I just try to stay humble and play the game.

HH: If you weren’t playing baseball, what would you be doing? I think some people assume it would be the weather?

MT: Yeah I’d be a weatherman or maybe a teacher like my parents.

Below: Mike Trout’s weather report live from the Big A

HH: I don’t know if I can get a scoop here but I haven’t seen any dates yet for your wedding. Do you have a date planned?

MT: We do. We’ve set a date for this upcoming off season.

HH: Last question I have is Cam Bedrosian stirred up some controversy among the pitching staff by saying Five Guys is better than In-n-Out. Which side of the battle would you be on?

MT: Definitely Five Guys.

HH: So you’re on Cam’s side?

MT: Yeah I am.

HH: You might have to have a word with Garrett about that since I think he was a bit upset.

MT: Oh trust me, I hear it all the time.

Thank you Mike Trout for taking the time out of your busy day to talk to Halos Heaven. And thank you to Carina Uehara who arranged this interview on behalf of BodyArmor Sports drink.

More information on BodyArmor:

BodyArmor on Twitter
BodyArmor Website