ANAHEIM -- Nearly everyone in attendance at Angel Stadium on Friday night will have his or her eyes fixated on one person.
A 19-year-old kid from New Jersey will be the subject of that attention. His name is Mike Trout.
The Angels announced late on Thursday night that they called up the young outfielder from Double-A Arkansas, and he would join the Major League club in time for Friday's game against Seattle.
Trout, a 6-foot-1, 200-pounder who will be the youngest player in the Major Leagues, entered the season ranked as the top prospect in all of baseball by MLB.com. He is hitting .330 with nine home runs, 11 triples, 27 RBIs and 28 stolen bases in 74 games for Double-A Arkansas this season. He also boasts an on-base-plus-slugging percentage of .966 and has walked 38 times.
"Mike Trout has a chance to be a special player," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said earlier this season. "He can really run, and he loves to compete. He has all the tools and the desire to make things happen."
The news of Trout's promotion came only a couple hours after center fielder Peter Bourjos left Thursday's game with a strained right hamstring. Bourjos appeared to suffer the injury while rounding second on an eighth-inning double, and exited immediately afterward. Thursday's official release said that the Angels will make an additional roster move on Friday to make room for Trout on the 25-man roster, which could mean Bourjos moving to the disabled list.
A native of Millville, N.J., Trout was named 2010 Minor League Player of the Year by Topps and was honored as the Midwest League MVP for his efforts with Class A Cedar Rapids.
He will be the youngest player to debut in the Major Leagues since the Mariners' Felix Hernandez, last year's American League Cy Young winner, who was just shy of being 19 years, four months old when he debuted in 2005. Trout will turn 20 next month.
Trout was also slated to play in his second consecutive XM All-Star Futures Game in Phoenix on Sunday, but it's not yet known how this transaction will affect his status for that game. Last year he went 2-for-4 in that contest, doubling and scoring two runs while helping the U.S. team defeat the World Team, 9-1.
Friday will mark Trout's first game at Angel Stadium since the club's Spring Training finale against the Dodgers on March 29. Trout hit .276 with a .364 on-base percentage in 16 games for the Angels during Spring Training.
"I'm just playing hard, trying to win the first half for the Arkansas Travelers," Trout said earlier this year. "If the Angels give me the opportunity, I'll try to go out there and compete. Personally, I definitely think about it. I know they'll make the right choice."
