Mike Trout again All-Star MVP, but the kids are all bright

Tampa Bay right-hander Chris Archer was quick to correct when a reporter referred to him as a young guy.

“I’m not young,” he said. “I’m 26.”

In today’s landscape, a 26-year-old who turns 27 in September but looks like he doesn’t even shave yet is no longer considered young, even if he’s a first-time All-Star.

“I’m baseball young,” Archer said.

Relative to what has happened so far this season and relative to the game’s two biggest stars, Mike Trout and Bryce Harper, Archer isn’t young.

Archer is nearly three years older than Trout, the reigning American League MVP who doesn’t turn 24 until Aug. 7. Archer is more than four years older than Bryce Harper, the National League first-half MVP who is three months away from his 23rd birthday.

Manny Machado turned 23 on Monday. Kris Bryant is also only 23. Same for Joc Pederson. Carlos Correa, already considered the AL’s best shortstop after only one month in the majors, is 20, and his Houston teammate Lance McCullers, 21, has seized a rotation spot.

Joey Gallo was 21 when he debuted in June for the Rangers.

The majors are being overtaken by young, talented stars. It showed during the first half of the 2015 season and on the rosters Tuesday night with 20 players 25 years old and younger.

“Especially this year, it seems like this year there are a bunch of young guys,” said Bryant, the game’s top prospect before he debuted April 17 with the Chicago Cubs.

“I think that’s just the natural cycle of the game. There’s always going to be young guys coming up when the older guys are going out, and I guess we’re just in one of those cycles right now.”

Trout showed up yet again in a Midsummer Classic, starting it with a home run off Zack Greinke, but so did Rangers designated hitter Prince Fielder in the AL's 6-3 victory. He singled to left field in his first at-bat, against Clayton Kershaw, driving home Trout in the fifth to break a 1-1 tie, and then added a second RBI in the seventh with a sacrifice fly.

“I’m just trying to be ready for the fastball, and then I’ve got to play aggressive pepper,” Fielder said. “Any time you can win a game and be a part of it, it’s always cool.”

Trout, though, was named the game’s MVP, becoming the first player in history to win the award in back to back All-Star games.

Obviously, the game still has a place for 30-something veterans. Albert Pujols, 35, is tied for the AL lead in homers at 26 — along with his Los Angeles Angels teammate Trout. The injured Miguel Cabrera, 32, leads the majors with a .350 batting average, and Fielder, 31, is second in the AL at .339.

Nelson Cruz, 35, is batting .308 with 21 homers and a .546 slugging percentage for Seattle. Greinke, 31, has been the game’s best pitcher for the Dodgers, and fellow right-hander A.J. Burnett, 38, has found the fountain of youth as a first-time All-Star with Pittsburgh.

But Trout, Harper and Giancarlo Stanton, who is injured, are three of the top players in the game, and each is under 25. So is Oakland right-hander Sonny Gray, whose 2.04 ERA leads the AL.

“Some guys have come in and gotten some opportunities early in their careers and just taken off,” Gray said. “There are so many great players. It just seems like everyone is getting called up at the same time.”

There are going to be bumps in the road along the way. Even Trout, a four-time All-Star, needed more time in the minor leagues after an initial call-up in 2011, and Gallo had troubles toward the end of his brief first big-league stint.

“He’ll be here one day,” said Bryant, Gallo’s boyhood friend in Las Vegas and a fellow third baseman who could end up playing the outfield. “He’s ahead of the curve.”

Harper, the youngest All-Star again this year, is finally meeting the enormous expectations that have dogged him throughout his career — even though he was the 2012 NL Rookie of the Year and is a three-time All-Star — not to mention some injury woes that have also stunted Machado.

The lefty-hitting Pederson, the Home Run Derby runner-up Monday, sits against some left-handed pitchers, and Cubs second baseman Addison Russell is batting .226 with 83 strikeouts in 243 at-bats.

“They know that. Every player in here has had a struggle during his career,” Detroit left-hander David Price said. “Whether it’s for five or 10 games or one or two starts, everyone is going to have that stretch. But these guys are All-Stars and already know how to get through that stretch.”

Price, who turns 30 next month, called the surge of young players “fantastic.” They serve as examples for the next generation of players, whether they’re in high school now or even middle school, and can pump some energy into veteran teams.

Price was hardly the lone veteran excited by the game’s youthful turn.

“I think the young talent in baseball is better than it’s been in years, and I think it’s great for the game,” said New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira, who at age 35 leads the AL with 62 RBIs. “These are exciting players, players that kids can look up to, and hopefully they will be All-Stars for a long time.”

Said Fielder, who made his major league debut when he was 21: “They’re really good at a young age. It’s really hard to be that good at that age and dominate the league.”

This story was originally published July 14, 2015 at 11:19 PM with the headline "Mike Trout again All-Star MVP, but the kids are all bright."