Trout Vs. Kershaw, Round 1, Visualized

Tonight is the first time Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw will face each other. ESPN Stats & Info has a nice breakdown of the matchup, full of telling details to watch for, like this:

Kershaw has thrown an increasingly high percentage of his pitches down, a location where he averages 46.0 percent this season, a jump from 37.3 percent a season ago and 36.5 percent in 2012.

Meanwhile, Trout has crushed pitches down in the zone where he leads MLB with a .382 batting average, .763 slugging percentage and 17 home runs this season.

But those two heat maps are enough to get across most of the particulars.

[ ESPN]