NEW YORK — Mike Trout and Bryce Harper were teammates on the Scottsdale Scorpions last fall. The outfielders arrived in the major leagues on the same April day this year, both played in the All-Star Game and they won Rookie of the Year awards a half-hour apart Monday.

Trout, 21, was a unanimous pick as the youngest AL rookie winner, and Harper, 20, edged Arizona pitcher Wade Miley 112 points to 105 to become the second-youngest winner of the NL honor.

“It’s pretty neat,” said Trout, who played for the Arkansas Travelers in 2011.

For the first time, players learned the voting results when they were announced on television.

“My heart was beating a little bit,” Harper said.

Trout, who turned 21 on Aug. 7, received all 28 first place votes from the AL panel of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. The Los Angeles Angels center fielder was the eighth unanimous AL pick and the first since Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria in 2008.

There could be more to come, too. Trout is among five finalists for AL MVP and is considered the chief challenger to Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera for that award, which will be announced Thursday.

“It would just top it off,” Trout said.

Trout hit .326, second-best in the league to Cabrera’s .330, with 30 home runs and 83 RBI, and he led the majors with 129 runs and 49 steals. He joined Ted Williams, Mel Ott and Alex Rodriguez as the only players to hit .320 or higher with 30 or more home runs in seasons they started as a 20-year-old.

Trout received the maximum 140 points. Oakland outfielder Yoenis Cespedes was second with 63, followed by Texas pitcher Yu Darvish (46), who joined Trout as the only players listed on every ballot.

Detroit second baseman Lou Whitaker had been the youngest AL winner in 1978, but he was 3 months, 5 days older than Trout on the day he took home the award.

In addition to Trout and Longoria, the only other unanimous AL winners were Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Jeter, Tim Salmon, Sandy Alomar Jr., Mark McGwire and Carlton Fisk.

Trout’s father made it to Class AA as an infielder with Minnesota in the mid-1980s and watched his son build a career growing up in New Jersey, where the seasons are short and cold.

“He went out and did it and endured it,” Jeff Trout said.

Added mom Debbie: “All the hard work paid off.”

Trout, taken by the Angels with the 25th overall pick in the 2009 amateur draft, still lives at home with his parents during the off season. The award will join others in the family house.

“He gets a lot of good home cooking,” Jeff Trout said.

Trout spent some time in the majors last year but still retained his rookie status. He began this season in the minors and made his first big league appearance this year April 28 - the day of Harper’s major league debut.

Trout was on a flight from Salt Lake City to Cleveland when he saw on Twitter that Harper was being called up the same day.

Harper turned 20 on Oct. 16 and has been hyped for years. When he was just 16, he appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the headline “CHOSEN ONE.”

“He’s been put on the spotlight since he was 15 years old,” Trout said.

The Washington Nationals outfielder got 16 of 32 first-place votes from the NL panel. Miley was second with 12 first-place votes, followed by Cincinnati slugger Todd Frazier with three firsts and 45 points. Harper appeared on every ballot, and Bill Center of Texas-San Diego was the only voter who didn’t include Miley.

Harper was the top pick in the 2010 amateur draft and batted .270 with 22 home runs and 59 RBI as Washington brought postseason play to the nation’s capital for the first time since 1933. Only Tony Conigliaro (24) hit more home runs as a teenager.

At a glance MIKE TROUT, OF LOS ANGELES ANGELS AGE 21 HT 6-1 WT 210 BATS/THROWS Right/Right

BRYCE HARPER, OF WASHINGTON NATIONALS AGE 20 HT 6-3 WT 215 BATS/THROWS Left/Right

Sports, Pages 15 on 11/13/2012