Top prospect Trout gets the call

The top prospect in the Minor Leagues is about to become one of the youngest players in the Major Leagues.

Outfielder Mike Trout was recalled from Double-A Arkansas late Thursday night and will join the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in time for Friday's game against the Seattle Mariners.

Trout was promoted after Angels center fielder Peter Bourjos strained his right hamstring while rounding second base on an eighth-inning double. The team will announce a corresponding transaction to make room for Trout on the 25-man roster.

"Mike Trout has a chance to be a special player," Angels manager Mike Scioscia told MLB.com earlier this season. "He can really run and he loves to compete. He has all the tools and the desire to make things happen."

Trout flashed those tools during an impressive 75-game stint in the Texas League. He shares the league lead with 69 runs scored, ranks second with 28 stolen bases and is fifth with a .324 batting average. Trout has 12 doubles, 11 triples, nine homers and 27 RBIs and helped the Travelers win the first-half North Division title.

"I'm not trying to do too much," he said last month. "When I try to do too much, I get jumpy and miss my pitch. I just have to be comfortable in the box and get my pitch and drive it. ... I'm getting my pitch. I'm being selective up there and trying to get a pitch I can drive. I'm just feeling comfortable up there."

The New Jersey native went 2-for-5 with an RBI as the starting center fielder for the North Division in last month's Texas League All-Star Game and was selected to play in his second straight All-Star Futures Game on Sunday in Phoenix.

Selected 25th overall in the 2009 Draft, Trout had just one full season under his belt when he was tabbed by MLB.com as baseball's No. 1 prospect. He tore up the Class A Midwest League last year with a .362 average, 32 extra-base hits, 76 runs scored, 45 stolen bases and 39 RBIs in 81 games. Promoted to Class A Advanced Rancho Cucamonga, Trout batted .306 with 19 RBIs, 11 steals and 30 runs scored in 50 games.

Among the other accolades he garnered were Midwest League MVP and Prospect of the Year, Topps Class A All-Star and Baseball America Minor League All-Star. Not bad for someone who doesn't turn 20 until Aug. 7.

Trout played 16 games for the Angels in the Cactus League, hitting .276 with one RBI, one stolen base and one run scored. He'll be back at Angel Stadium on Friday for the first time since the club's Spring Training finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 29.