Los Angeles Angels: Appreciating Mike Trout’s greatness on his birthday

Fans of the Los Angeles Angels, and baseball fans around the globe, are no stranger to the greatness we are witnessing in Mike Trout.

Mike Trout is easily the best player in baseball, we all know that. Not only has Trout become the face of the Los Angeles Angels and the rest of the MLB, he has done so before turning the ripe old age of 26. With today being the face of baseball’s 26th birthday, it only seems fitting to dive deep into the greatness that is Mike Trout.

First off, the accolades. In five full seasons prior to 2017 Trout has taken home two MVPs, two All-Star MVPs, five Silver Sluggers, six All-Star appearances as well as being named the 2012 Rookie of the Year. If it wasn’t for Miguel Cabrera’s Triple Crown in 2012 and nearly identical year in 2013, Trout easily could be standing with four MVPs.

In fact, one could argue that the only thing holding Trout back from the 2015 MVP was his team missing the playoffs, whereas Josh Donaldson and the Blue Jays did. Trout had a better WAR that season, according to FanGraphs, with the same amount of home runs and a better batting average.

So, although Trout has two MVP’s at 26 years old, he very well could have won five. Injury may stop him from winning a third in 2017, but there is no doubt that he will still be in the discussion.

Speaking of the injury, Trout still ranks seventh in baseball in WAR. To put that in perspective, all six men ahead of him have played at least 34 more games (and as much as 40 more) and outside of Anthony Rendon have somewhere around 150 more plate appearances than Trout.

If Trout had the same amount of plate appearances as Aaron Judge, the MLB leader in WAR, Trout would have a 7.6 WAR; Judge has a 6.0 WAR.

That alone is fascinating, but Trout is no stranger to putting together fascinating numbers. When judged against his peers, it becomes even easier to recognize how great Trout really is.

Trout ranks eighth in WAR of active players with a career WAR of 52.6. If it wasn’t for injury, Trout would be seventh, surpassing David Wright and his 53.2 career WAR. Two of the seven have already gotten 3000 hits (Ichiro, Adrian Beltre), with three others in line to surpass the milestone (Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Carlos Beltran).

Outside of Wright, all the other men ahead of Trout have played in at least twice as many games. Some have played 2000 or more, with Chase Utley being the outlier at 1811 games played. If Trout had as many games as Utley his WAR would be 108.5 – if he had as many games as Beltre his WAR would be 166.4.

Trout already ranks 164th all time in career WAR. A reasonable expectation for Trout is to finish the season with a 55.0 career WAR, which would bump to 148th all-time. Bear in mind, there would only be 147 players, enough to fill sixteen starting nines, that have been better than Trout. He is only 26.

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If Trout can keep up this production for five more seasons, if healthy, his WAR will be somewhere around 102, good enough to crack the top 20. At that time Trout will be 31, let’s say he plays ten more seasons after that and averages half of what he does now, his WAR will finish somewhere around 150 – putting him third all-time behind Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds.

Again, this is assuming Trout stays healthy as well as taking a normal decline. He could easily have a sharp decline, or, he could be a late bloomer like Barry Bonds and thrive late in his career.

While everything does have to go right for Trout, there is no reason he can’t challenge to be the best player of all-time. 

This is spectacular. Trout is going to be a player that we tell our grand children about. Kids 50 years from now will be imitating Trout like kids do now with Babe Ruth. We have become numb to how special Trout really is. We may have the best player in MLB history on our hands and we should take the time to appreciate that greatness.

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This is even more impressive with the talent in today’s MLB. The MLB evolves, and the pitching today is much harder to hit than when Babe Ruth played. As a Dodger fan, it pains me to say, but the best player of all-time may just go down as a member of the Los Angeles Angels. Happy Birthday, Mike Trout.