ARLINGTON – Maybe TCU associate head coach Bill Mosiello isn’t the one who made Mike Trout a $430-million player.
But Mosiello knew he was seeing something special.
The Frogs assistant managed Trout for three seasons in the Los Angeles Angels minor league system, and Mosiello wasn’t surprised Tuesday to learn that Trout was about to become baseball’s richest player.
“I thought he’d be the best player in the history of the game,” said Mosiello, who worked with Trout at Class-A Cedar Rapids and at the Double-A Arkansas Travelers.
“I never thought about a money figure, but I thought then that he could be the best that’s ever played. I used to tell people I never saw Mickey Mantle play, but I don’t know why he can’t be Mickey Mantle.”
Trout was 17 years old and just a few months from the graduation stage at Millville (N.J.) High School, when he was called up for a brief, late-season cameo with the Cedar Rapids Kernels in the Midwest League. He began the year with Mosiello and the Kernels in 2010, batting .362 with a .979 OPS.
Both Mosiello and Trout moved up the next season to Arkansas in the Texas League.
“He won two batting crowns, both years,” Mosiello said Tuesday, before TCU’s game against UTA. “You name it. He could do it.
“The only thing he didn’t hit then was a ton of home runs, although you knew he was going to one day. He could really stay inside the ball, and for a young kid — he was 17, 18, 19 years old — he walked almost as much as he struck out.
“For a young hitter that’s moved at advanced levels, nobody does that.”
Mosiello worked in both the Angels’ and New York Yankees’ farm systems. He had a 383-294 (.566) record as a minor league manager.
His college coaching resume includes a stop at Tennessee, where he coached Todd Helton and R.A. Dickey.
But there’s no doubt in Mosiello’s mind who his most prized pupil was.
“The worst thing he did was throw, and it’s still the worst thing he does, but he’s ok now,” Mosiello said. “He gets to the ball quick.
“The main thing is his makeup, the way he handles himself. He didn’t say much. He had a great confidence, but he didn’t need to tell you. That’s what you admire about him.”
The Angels selected Trout – as a 17-year-old – with their compensatory pick, No. 25, in the first round of the 2009 MLB Draft.
The Rangers weren’t the only ones who passed on Trout in that first round. They selected TCU’s Matt Purke at the No. 14 spot, and in what became a celebrated local case were unable to sign him. Somewhat coincidentally, two other players who were selected before Trout in that round were Mike Minor (drafted seventh overall) and Shelby Miller (No. 19), both expected to be in the Texas starting rotation this season.
The Rangers once reaped a franchise-defining haul by trading Mark Teixeira to the Atlanta Braves. In a curious twist, the pick that the Angels used to draft Trout was a compensatory choice obtained because the Yankees had signed Teixeira as a free agent.
Deals that included Teixeira, in other words, brought his former teams three All-Stars (Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz and Matt Harrison) and the highest-paid player in the history of the game.
“He has a bounce in his step, but he was the exact same kid when I managed him,” Mosiello said of Trout. “That’s what’s so neat now. Everything he does now is the same as he did then.
“You knew then he would never change. You knew you could bet on him.”
Mosiello thinks a lot of that comes from Trout’s parents, Jeff and Debbie.
“His parents were so grounded,” he said. “You could just see they had done a great job.”
Mosiello says that he and Trout still stay in touch through text messages and phone calls.
“What an amazing kid,” Mosiello said. “This is a pretty neat day.”
Trout’s contract runs through 2030 and, at a reported $430 million, is the richest deal ever given to an athlete in any sport.