Angels’ Mike Trout looks forward to future Home Run Derby

Reporting from Minneapolis —  Mike Trout is the consensus best player in baseball. He would have been a natural for Monday night’s Home Run Derby -- he has more home runs than any of the 10 contestants -- but he rejected an invitation.

“A lot of guys were giving me crap about it,” Trout said Monday.

His Angels teammates?

“Around the league,” Trout said.

Trout, 22, left little doubt that his decision reflected the wishes of Angels manager Mike Scioscia. Trout said he would welcome another opportunity to participate.

“If I get another chance, and if I said I wanted to do it,” Trout said, “Scioscia would be against it, but he would support it.”

According to Trout, Scioscia is concerned that taking so many hard swings in such a limited amount of time could hamper his performance and heighten the risk of injury.

“I don’t think it will mess up my swing,” Trout said.