Mike Trout wins the American League Most Valuable Player Award unanimously - MLB

Angels outfielder Mike Trout has finally won an MVP award. After losing out on the hardware in each of the last two seasons to Miguel Cabrera, Trout was selected unanimously as the American League’s MVP for his superb 2014 campaign. He is the youngest to ever win the award unanimously. Teammates Albert Pujols and Howie Kendrick each received down-ballot votes, finishing 17th and 18th, respectively.

Trout led the league in Wins Above Replacement according to both FanGraphs (7.8) and Baseball Reference (7.9). He hit .287/.377/.561 with 16 stolen bases, 36 home runs, and a league-leading 111 RBI. He also led the league in runs scored with 115.

The 22-year-old Trout inked a six-year, $144.5 million contract extension with the Angels back in March. Given today’s report that the Marlins have discussed a $300 million deal with Giancarlo Stanton, the Trout contract might end up being a heck of a bargain.

Current free agent Victor Martinez finished in second place while Indians outfielder Michael Brantley finished third.

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Roger Clemens will be an analyst for ESPN when the defending World Series champion Houston Astros host the Chicago White Sox on opening day.

Clemens made four appearances on last year’s KayRod Cast with Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez. He will be stepping in on March 30 for David Cone, who will be doing the New York Yankees opener against the San Francisco Giants on YES Network.

“Roger has been sort of a friend of ours for the last year, so to speak, he’s in. He’s been engaged, knowledgeable and really present,” said ESPN Vice President of Production Phil Orlins. “You know, whatever past may be, he’s still tremendously engaged and he really brought that every time he was with us.”

Clemens was a seven-time Cy Young winner but his career after baseball has been tainted by allegations of performance-enhancing drug use. He is a Houston native and pitched for the Astros for three seasons.

Orlins said that with the rules changes and pitch clock, it is important to have a pitcher in the booth with Karl Ravech and Eduardo Perez.

“We don’t feel like we have to have the dynamic of Eduardo with a pitcher, but we certainly think that works. Throw in the added factor of rule changes and it is better to have a batter-pitcher perspective,” Orlins said.

Orlins did not say if this would open the door for future opportunities for Clemens as an ESPN analyst.