South Jersey minor-leaguer called a top prospect

Growing up in Millville, Cumberland County, Mike Trout would occasionally wonder what people were like in other parts of the country.

The Los Angeles Angels gave him the opportunity to satisfy his curiosity when they made the Millville High grad a first-round pick, No. 25 overall, in the 2009 draft.

In 13 months - or since he made his professional baseball debut in the Arizona Rookie League - Trout has lived in the Southwest, Midwest and is currently on the West Coast. He's had to learn the ways of the folks in those regions quickly because Trout, who turned 19 Saturday, is on a meteoric rise.

He is currently the top prospect in the major leagues, according to Baseball America.

"I've seen what life is like in the Midwest and now I'm seeing what it's like on the West Coast," Trout said recently, shortly before he went 3 for 4 with a walk for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of advanced single-A California League. "It's great. It's been fun, and I can't complain about the weather."

The Angels have no complaints about Trout, either. He moved to the forefront of Baseball America's midseason list of prospects when Domonic Brown graduated to the Phillies. Before that, the 6-foot-1, 217-pound outfielder with a sprinter's speed was rated No. 2.

The Angels rate Trout as the top athlete in their organization.

"Mike is close to being a five-tool player, if not a five-tool player with a great makeup," said Abe Flores, the Angels' director of player development. "He's driven and coachable and he's a winner. Think of any good intangible and Mike's got it. He makes players around him better because the others see how hard he works and they might want to work just as hard."

Shortly after signing a contract with a $1.215 million signing bonus, Trout made the transition from high school to professional baseball appear seamless when he tore through the Arizona League. In 39 games, he batted .360 with 25 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. He began this season with the Cedar Rapids Kernels of the Midwest League and hit .362 with 39 RBIs and 45 stolen bases in 81 games before he was promoted to the California League in early July.

"He's progressing more quickly than I anticipated," Flores said. "We definitely recognized his talent last year when he was with Tempe. You just never know how they're going to react to better competition. In high school, they're not seeing consistently good pitching, the velocity, the breaking balls, the lefthanded pitching.