Kevin McGonigle has been enjoying a rookie season for the ages, between signing a long-term contract extension with the Tigers, collecting 4.7 Baseball-Reference WAR with a strong .812 OPS and earning his first All-Star appearance -- all in a matter of just a few months.
Heading to Philadelphia for Tuesday’s All-Star Game will also be an exciting homecoming for McGonigle, who hails from the Philadelphia suburbs. Naturally, this would all seem a bit surreal for the 21-year-old.
And then another hometown hero reached out.
"Mike Trout texted me," McGonigle told Jeff Seidel of the Detroit Free Press. "Trout texted me and congratulated me. That's the one, I was like, ‘Wow, that's pretty wild.’"
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Trout -- a native of Millville, N.J., just 40 some miles outside of Philadelphia -- earned his 12th All-Star selection, a record among active players. But this will be the first Midsummer Classic he plays in since 2019, having returned last week from a hamstring injury that had him on the shelf for a bit.
McGonigle probably received more text messages than he could count after his All-Star selection. But few, if any, will stack up to the one he got from one of the game’s greats, whom he’ll share a dugout with at Citizens Bank Park this week.