Mike Trout is the biggest, baddest dude in baseball right now, and probably the cumulative best player of the last three seasons in the MLB. He came in second in MVP voting for 2012 (presumably because he was a rookie) and 2013 (presumably because his team didn't make the playoffs), but his 2014 prospects are looking good.
Trout got a warm-up for the end of the year honors by taking the MVP at this week's All-Star Game in Minneapolis (2-3, 2 RBI, 1 R, 1 3B) as the American League won 5-3. To honor Trout's continued dominance, Music Times decided to rank some of the athlete's walk-up music in terms of how well it works in context.
Warning: Expect a lot of Drake.
05) "The Motto" by Drake feat. Lil Wayne
Drake isn't necessarily a bad walk-up choice, and "The Motto" keeps a consistent beat throughout, but we're a little thrown off when trying to associate this single with Trout at all. It's okay that Drizzy and Weezy rap loudly proclaim their lustful accomplishments while Trout is a fairly quiet dude, but unlike other Drake tracks to appear later, "Motto" is about excess coming to you, not about going out and getting it. Therefore a questionable choice for athletic inspiration. Plus, no way to censor this without making it lame.
04) "Started From The Bottom" by Drake
Alright, now Drake is in the right mindset for athletics. "Started From The Bottom" is the kind of rags-to-riches story that athletes and fans eat right up, so the hook definitely sends the right message. The problem is that this is far from the Toronto rapper's most bouncing beat, yet it's not dark enough to strike fear into a pitcher's mind. And for purists, Trout isn't exactly a Tom Brady drafted-last-now-the-best turnaround story. In fact, he was ranked no. 1 on ESPN's Top 100 prospects list in 2011 before entering the league.
03) "New Divide" by Linkin Park
A big problem with walk-up music, and this is just us editorializing here, is that most of the young guys in the game prefer hip-hop, a genre that will always struggle to match heavy guitar licks for intimidation factor (with a few exceptions to be noted below). Linkin Park's guitars and screams approach during "New Divide" is simply louder than most of what you'll see on this list. The war drums that open the track don't hurt either. Still, this is a fairly emotive track that doesn't come near the decibel level of Lamb of God or similar.
02) "Trophies" by Drake
The opening to "Trophies" was pretty much designed for walk-up music. The triumphant horns declare the entry of an emperor, which Drake definitely considers himself and Trout deserves to consider himself. It's the music I hear when I imagine Superman leaving the Fortress of Solitude. Another benefit is that unlike the other Drake tracks featured, the opening instrumental is long enough to be clipped and used by itself without worrying about censoring any language.
01) "H.A.M" by Watch The Throne
Forget everything we just said about censorship. The hook from "H.A.M" is just too good to worry about bleeping Jay and Ye's obscenities. Kanye West and Lex Luger get most of the credit as the the use of operatic vocalists turns the hook from a run-of-the-mill boast track into a hip-hop epic. The bigger the noise you make, the more you're going to get into the head of your opponent. "H.A.M" can grab the attention of a snoozing audience and draw them into Trout's corner while building his confidence. It's not just cockiness in this case either: Trout has been going hard as a mother for three years now.
