TEMPE, Ariz. — Mike Trout isn’t comfortable discussing the contract extension talks between him and the Angels.

“It’s interesting what people are saying about it,” Trout said Wednesday at the Angels’ spring training complex. “Other than that I don’t want to comment on it.”

For the Angels, that might be for the better.

What people are saying — including some baseball executives — is that there is no direct comparison to be made between Trout and any other player eligible for a contract extension at this stage of his career and at his age. A short list of comparable 22-year-old players includes names like Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle.

The largest contract extension in baseball history belongs to Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto. His deal, signed in April 2012, is worth $225 million over 10 years.

But Votto was 28 years old when he signed that contract, about seven months away from free agency. Most of all, he isn’t Mike Trout. By the numbers, no other current player can compare.

It must be tempting for a 22-year-old to contemplate the potential to become baseball’s highest-paid player. Maybe Trout’s greatest challenge is to let others — especially his agent, Craig Landis — do the contemplating for him.

“Social media has put a lot of young powerful players probably out there maybe more than they’re comfortable with, or more than it has in any time in history,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “That’s something you have to deal with. Mike, he won’t let it be a distraction.

“I think that he understands he’s a premier player and there’s a lot of interest in what he does both on and off the field, whether it’s endorsements or whether someone’s tweeting he had ice cream … that comes with the territory now in his group. He’s very level-headed. I don’t think he’s going to have any problem separating a lot of that.”

Maybe the greater challenge lies with the Angels.

A year ago, Trout’s camp was so miffed by his assigned salary of $510,000, Landis issued a statement saying it “falls well short of a ‘fair’ contract and I have voiced this to the Angels throughout the process.” The Angels disagreed.

Against that backdrop, there’s a renewed effort to make Trout as comfortable as possible this year.

He will begin the season as the Angels’ everyday center fielder, with Josh Hamilton penciled in for left field and Kole Calhoun in right. Last year Trout never seemed totally comfortable in left field — particularly at the wall, where he made spectacular catches seem routine during his first two seasons in center.

“Playing (center field) your whole life, you want to stay home,” he said. “It’s like taking you out of your home.”

Scioscia said Trout never came to the manager’s office to request a move back to center. Nor did Hamilton request a move from right to left, where he thinks he’ll be better served this year.

Trout moved anyway when opening-day center fielder Peter Bourjos missed more than 100 games due to injuries last season. Bourjos was traded to St. Louis in November and Raul Ibanez was signed, in part, to back up Hamilton in left.

Trout is prone to giving short answers; sometimes that makes it difficult to discern how genuine his answer is. That was the case Wednesday when he was asked if Anaheim feels like home.

“Yeah, I love playing there,” Trout said. “Fans are great. Can’t complain about the weather. Last year I think we got rained out one time in BP in the last 15 years.”

Trout left no ambiguity about how important it is for him to play on a winning team long-term.

“It is important,” he said. “You play the game to win. I think the group of guys that we have this year, like I said, we’ve got to get hot early. Whatever it takes, if it’s playing full nine-inning games in spring to start earlier, that’s what we’ve got to do. It’s going to be a challenge for us this year.”

The Angels have missed the playoffs four consecutive seasons. For Anaheim to feel like home — the kind of place Trout can see himself playing another eight or 10 years — maybe missing the playoffs again isn’t an option.

Also

Scioscia said Albert Pujols isn’t ready to play first base every day in spring training, though he expects Pujols to be the team’s everyday first baseman once the regular season begins. Pujols didn’t play after July 26 last year because of a torn plantar fascia in his left foot.