Mike Trout (right) was chosen an American League All-Star in 2012 despite not making his debut until April 28.

In hindsight, it would seem unjust if Mike Trout wasn’t an All-Star in 2012. In case you forgot: Second in the MVP voting, American League Rookie of the Year, 30 home runs, 49 steals, 129 runs scored, .326/.399/.564 slash line, 10.9 bWAR, yada, yada, yada …

Yet when All-Star game voting opened a year ago, on April 20, 2012, Mike Trout was in Triple-A. His first game of the season was eight days away. Ten days into the balloting, on May 1, Trout was batting .091. By June 1, he had five home runs and the pacesetter, Oakland A’s outfielder Josh Reddick, had 14.

So you wonder if Bruce Bochy would have wanted Trout, if by some strange reason the San Francisco Giants manager was in charge of the American League squad. Bochy explained his theory in a radio interview earlier today when asked about Yasiel Puig, the Dodgers outfielder who is putting up Trout-like numbers (better than that, even) through his first 13 major-league games.
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