OC Register: Youth coach mistakenly rips Mike Trout’s swing, earns Twitter infamy

[AngelsWin.com]

Ryan Wargel, who coaches teenage baseball players in Evansville, Ind., was flipping through videos of kids whose swings he didn’t like. He was going through so quickly that he didn’t notice the one that wasn’t a kid at all.

A few replies later, Wargel was on his way to Twitter infamy as the “Coach Who Shredded Mike Trout’s Swing.”

Rather than simply deleting his Tweets or claiming that he was just being sarcastic — like almost all of the other replies to the Tweet asking for critiques of the unnamed player — Wargel fell on his sword.

“I tell my guys all the time, ‘Own up to your mistakes,’” Wargel said by phone on Monday. “Don’t back down from something. Own up to your mistakes. So I wasn’t going to sit back and say this never happened.”

Wargel’s ability to cheerfully accept the fun at his expense led to his Tweets going viral, which he figured might have a silver lining. If people on Twitter clicked on his account and saw more information on the Evansville Devils, a travel team of 17-year-olds, maybe it would help one of those kids get some attention.

“If taking a bunch of bullets on Twitter helps get one of my guys noticed or my guys advanced, I’ll take every bullet there is,” Wargel said.

Wargel, 47, said he has been coaching for 28 years. He’s been in charge of this particular group of kids for a few years now, starting when they were 14.

On Sunday morning, he saw a Tweet from Matt Lisle, a former Chicago White Sox hitting coach who now has more than 700,000 social media followers for his advice on hitting. Lisle reposted a video that Trout had posted on his Instagram account a few days earlier. In it, Trout is hitting flips from his father, Jeff. Lisle posted the four-second video with the caption: “My friends’ son needs help. Any tips/suggestions?”

The replies rolled in, many of them jokes from people who clearly recognized it was Trout. A few others may have been sarcastic, or they may have been fooled, just like Wargel.

Wargel replied to one Tweet critical of Trout’s uppercut swing — a Tweet that has since been deleted — by agreeing: “Pitching machine swing. Works great when you’re 8, not so much against velocity. Work with him on keeping his hands inside the line and keeping shoulders level. Balance is key.”

Pitching machine swing. Works great when you're 8, not so much against any velocity. Work with him on keeping his hands inside the line and keeping shoulders level. Balance is key

— Evansville Devils Baseball (@EvansvilleDevi1) February 6, 2022

Another user followed that reply with “You for real?” Wargel then, in his words, “doubled down.”

“I am,” Wargel wrote in another Tweet. “That swing gives you one point of contact through the zone. Personally I’ll take high average line drive hitters over a .150 avg every once in a while HR all day. Line drives turn into backspin HRs, uppercut swings are outs.”

The next reply: “You realize that’s Mike Trout, right”

Wargel admitted: “Did not….” He added a facepalm meme.

Did not……. pic.twitter.com/10clV2lYyl

— Evansville Devils Baseball (@EvansvilleDevi1) February 6, 2022

Trout himself replied with three puzzled, thinking emojis.

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The exchange was re-tweeted and shared around social media, and Wargel was bombarded by messages from those who knew him, players and other coaches.

“I’ve had several college coaches reach out to me individually and they’re like, ‘Hey, you know, actually the advice you gave is good. It’s just that it doesn’t apply to Mike Trout,’” Wargel said.

Wargel later Tweeted to anyone who had found his account because of the exchange that he hoped they would take a look at his players. He also posted an invitation to Trout.

“All aside, if @MikeTrout ever finds himself in Evansville. I feel like I owe him at least a good home-cooked meal and his drink of choice. Plus it’d be phenomenal for my guys to hear what it takes to make it from one of the best in the game #wishfulthinking.”

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[failos]

This guy should stay in his own lane. Dummy.

[T.G.]

Clearly, Trout is going to start regressing as a hitter.

[Angel Dog and Beer]

.235/.305/.450 incoming. 

[AngelsLakersFan]

How old is the video?

Im sure Mike's swing has improved since he was 8.

[Taylor]

25 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

How old is the video?

Im sure Mike's swing has improved since he was 8.

Only incrementally.

[T.G.]

28 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

How old is the video?

Im sure Mike's swing has improved since he was 8.

A week or so...

[AngelsLakersFan]

1 minute ago, True Grich said:

A week or so...

Isn't his inability to distinguish Mike Trout from an 8 year old far more egregious than the critique of his swing?

[Blarg]

Mike Trout's swing has gone through several changes since reaching the majors. He was a line drive hitter that elevated the occasional pitch when he was a rookie.

To rip a guy about an 8 year old's swing, regardless of who that 8 year old is, is just dumb. Now good humor ribbing is in order and he seems to have taken that in stride. 

[happybat4]

7 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Mike Trout's swing has gone through several changes since reaching the majors. He was a line drive hitter that elevated the occasional pitch when he was a rookie.

To rip a guy about an 8 year old's swing, regardless of who that 8 year old is, is just dumb. Now good humor ribbing is in order and he seems to have taken that in stride. 

But Trout wasn't 8 years old in the video. It's literally Trout a week ago.

[T.G.]

41 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

Isn't his inability to distinguish Mike Trout from an 8 year old far more egregious than the critique of his swing?

 

31 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Mike Trout's swing has gone through several changes since reaching the majors. He was a line drive hitter that elevated the occasional pitch when he was a rookie.

To rip a guy about an 8 year old's swing, regardless of who that 8 year old is, is just dumb. Now good humor ribbing is in order and he seems to have taken that in stride. 

FFS

[Jeff Fletcher]

57 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

Isn't his inability to distinguish Mike Trout from an 8 year old far more egregious than the critique of his swing?

I suspect he was looking at the video on his phone and not really paying attention to the guy's face and just looking it at as another kid. From talking to him, it sounds like he just ripped off the reply without thinking too much.

[jsnpritchett]

2 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

I suspect he was looking at the video on his phone and not really paying attention to the guy's face and just looking it at as another kid. From talking to him, it sounds like he just ripped off the reply without thinking too much.

[AngelsLakersFan]

2 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

I suspect he was looking at the video on his phone and not really paying attention to the guy's face and just looking it at as another kid. From talking to him, it sounds like he just ripped off the reply without thinking too much.

Yup. It's one thing to not recognize Trout in the video, but comparing his swing to an 8 year old's implies he didn't even recognize that it was a grown man in the video. Seems like that level of analysis should come before the swing critique. 

[HanfordGuy]

This reminds me of Joe Montana’s kids when they were in high school, Joe told the boys to hold the ball a certain way and they told him their personal coach, that Joe hired, had said not to do it that way because it was wrong fundamentally.

[Taylor]

To be fair, we already knew Mike Trout was a kid.

[Inside Pitch]

Any info on whether or not that coach was originally from Canada?  

[T.G.]

3 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Any info on whether or not that coach was originally from Canada?  

No, but it does remind me of blarg's first posts in the covid thread...

[eligrba]

In his usual manner, Trout handles the entire situation with class.