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Angels' Trout vows to cut down strikeouts next season

Mark L. Baer / USA TODAY Sports / Reuters

Mike Trout received his first career MVP award Thursday after another sensational campaign for the Los Angeles Angels, but the 23-year-old superstar is already looking to make some changes next season.

Trout posted a superb .287/377/.561 line with a career-high 36 home runs in 2014, but the New Jersey native also struck out 184 times, the most ever by an MVP award winner.

Trout whiffed more frequently than all but 13 qualified hitters last season and is determined to cut down his strikeout rate in 2015, according to MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez.

"It's not like he's not aware of it," Angels bench coach Dino Ebel said earlier this week. "This guy's got a great eye, this guy's got lightning hands to the ball, and I really believe he's going to make adjustments and you're going to see a guy who's going to put the ball in play more."

Season PA K% BB% AVG ISO
2011 135 22.2 % 6.7 % 0.220 0.171
2012 639 21.8 % 10.5 % 0.326 0.238
2013 716 19.0 % 15.4 % 0.323 0.234
2014 705 26.1 % 11.8 % 0.287 0.274

An increased strikeout rate wasn't the only change to Trout's offensive profile in 2014, as the three-time All-Star also stroked an unprecedented number of fly balls, a development that resulted in more power, but negatively affected his batting average.

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