The HyperTexts
Is Mike Trout the GOAT?
Mike Trout Records & Projections
Mike Trout WAR WATCH: How many Hall-of-Famers will he pass this year?
Is it time to start calling Mike Trout baseball's "WAR Lord" or perhaps "The
WAR GOAT"? If you're looking for
Mike Trout nicknames
please click the hyperlink. If you're more interested in baseball history and
stats, please continue reading, to see how many Hall of
Fame players Trouty has already passed. It's mind-boggling!
How good is Mike Trout, really? Is he overrated? No, because playing in his age 32
season and having played only the equivalent of nine full seasons to date, due
to COVID-shortened seasons and injuries, Trout
has already passed baseball immortals
like Brooks Robinson, Pete Rose, Reggie Jackson, Johnny Bench and Joltin' Joe
DiMaggio in career WAR! Trout in most cases has done in less than half the playing time
what baseball immortals did over careers of 20 years or longer. Incredibly, with
many years left to play if he's
healthy, the great Mike Trout has already joined the top 50 players and top 30
hitters of all time!
MIKE TROUT WAR WATCH — SNAPSHOT VERSION
Mike Trout has already passed more than 220 hall-of-famers in WAR:
Next Up: #223
Tim Keefe+ 86.9, #224
George Brett+ 88.4, #225
Bob Gibson+ 89.1
Mike Trout in his age 32 season with 86.2 WAR has now passed 222 hall-of-famers
and has joined the top 30 hitters of all time!
Recently Passed: #222 Robin Roberts+ 86.1, #221 Chipper Jones+ 85.3, #220 George Davis+ (84.5), #219 Roger Connor+ (84.3), #218 Fergie
Jenkins (84.2), #217
Pedro Martinez (83.9), #216
Charlie Gehringer (83.8), #215 Ken Griffey Jr. (83.8, 16th HOF centerfielder), #214 John Clarkson (83.2), #213 Mike Mussina (82.8), #212 Nolan Ryan (81.3), #211 Rod Carew (81.2), #210 Tom Glavine (80.7), #209 Jeff Bagwell (79.9), Pete Rose (79.6), Curt Schilling (79.5), #208 Joe DiMaggio (79.2, 15th HOF centerfielder), #207 Dan Brouthers (78.7), #206 Brooks Robinson (78.5), #205 Robin Yount (77.4), #204 Ozzie Smith (76.9), Jim McCormick (76.2), #203 Bobby Wallace (76.3), #202 Paul Molitor (75.6), #201
"Old Hoss" Radbourn (75.4), "Bad" Bill Dahlen (75.2), #200
Sam Crawford (75.3), #199 Johnny Bench (75.1), #198 Luke Appling (74.5), #197
Reggie Jackson (74.0), #196 Frank Thomas (73.9), #195 "Big Poison"
Paul Waner (72.8), #162 Duke Snider (66.3, 14th HOF
centerfielder), #156 Andre Dawson+ (64.8, 13th HOF centerfielder)
It bears noting that when Mike Trout passed Ken Griffey Jr. in career WAR, he did in 12 years
(or closer to nine years in actual games played) what it took the
great Griffey 22 years to accomplish. And that is true for most of the
hall-of-famers Trout has passed so far, because he has been pumping out more WAR
in one-half to one-third the playing time. As you will see if you keep reading
this page, only one player has averaged more WAR per season than Trout, and only
a very small and very select group of superstars are even reasonably close to
his per-season output. And the truly crazy thing is that Trout is still a
relatively young 32, with many years left to play if he can remain healthy
enough.
Prime contenders in baseball's Game of Thrones include Shohei Ohtani, Aaron
Judge, Ronald Acuna Jr., Bryce Harper, Juan
Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr., Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Nolan Arenado, Paul
Goldschmidt, Manny Machado, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Xander Bogaerts, J.T. Realmuto, Trea Turner, Jose Ramirez
and Carlos Correa. But there is only one throne and only one legitimate king, Mike Trout.
How does Trout compare to his peers? Really, there is no comparison. Trout's closest "competition" among
active position players around his age
are Mookie Betts (#134), Paul Goldschmidt (#175), Freddie Freeman (#230), Manny Machado (#253), Nolan Arenado (#261),
Jose Altuve (#310), Andrew McCutchen (#337), Bryce
Harper (#381) and Jose Ramirez (#394). Trout is so far ahead of the pack, it's sort of like comparing a
cheetah to turtles in a footrace!
HALO MAN'S ASCENT
Dante created the rings of hell, but for purposes of illustration, I have
created the Rings of Baseball Heaven, to illustrate and chart Halo Man's ascent.
The figures given are the player's age for active players and the number of
seasons played as of 2021, not including steroid monsters ...
Seventh Heaven (120+ WAR): Babe Ruth (22), Walter Johnson (21), Cy Young (22),
Willie Mays (22), Ty Cobb (24), Hank Aaron (23), Stan Musial
(22)
Sixth Heaven (100+ WAR): Lou Gehrig (17), Rickey Henderson (25), Mel Ott (22),
Mickey Mantle (18), Tom Seaver (20), Frank Robinson (21), Joe Morgan (22),
Albert Pujols (22)
Fifth Heaven (80+ WAR): Mike Trout (30, 12), Albert Pujols (41, 21),
Carl Yastrzemski (23), Eddie Mathews (17), Phil Niekro (24), Cal Ripken Jr.
(21), Jimmie Foxx (21), Justin Verlander (41, 18), Clayton Kershaw (36, 16)
Albert Pujols finally reached the 100-WAR club in his 22nd season at age 42, but
he was still in Fifth Heaven at age 41 and had been there for over a decade.
Trout should stay well ahead of Pujol’s pace unless he’s unable to play or his
performance falls off a cliff.
Fourth Heaven (70+ WAR): Mike Trout (28, 10), Zack Greinke (39,
20), Pete Rose (24),
Derek Jeter (20)
As we can see, Trout has no competitors among position players of his era,
other than Pujols. And these players, as great as they have been, took
10-14 years longer to reach 70 WAR.
Third Heaven (60+ WAR): Mike Trout (26, 8), Miguel Cabrera (38, 19), Max Scherzer (36, 14), Joey Votto (37, 15), Tim Raines (23),
Tony Gwynn (20), Ernie Banks (19)
Fans who claim Miggy Cabrera was “better” then Trout should note that Trout did
in eight years what Miggy did in 21 years. So there really is no comparison.
Also, Cabrera was not a “better hitter” than Trout, as Trout’s Mickey-Mantle-ish
176 career OPS+ attests.
Second Heaven (50+ WAR): Mike Trout (25, 7), Evan Longoria (35, 14),
Yogi Berra (19),
Willie Stargell (21),
Joe Medwick (17), Tony Perez (23), David Ortiz (20)
WAR tells us that Mike Trout has been vastly better than Hall-of-Famers like
Yogi Berra, Willie Stargell, Tony Perez and David Ortiz.
First Heaven (40+ WAR): Mike Trout (24, 6), Mookie Betts (28, 8), Chris
Sale (32, 10), Paul Goldschmidt (33, 11), Nelson Cruz (40, 17), Nellie
Fox (19), Lou Brock (19)
Mookie Betts fans, don't get too excited, because at age 28 a streaking
Mike Trout would have 70 WAR!
Limbo (30+WAR): Mike Trout (23, 5), Bryce Harper (28,
10),
Harold Baines (22),
Hack Wilson (12), Lefty Gomez (14),
George Kell (15),
Bill Mazeroski (17),
Pie Traynor (17)
Mike Trout and Bryce Harper entered MLB the same year, but Trout would have
around double the WAR by age 28. Fans who complain about Harold Baines, Bill
Mazeroski and Pie Traynor being in the Hall of Fame have a point. WAR says Trout
passed them like they were standing still.
Purgatory (20+ WAR): Mike Trout (21, 3),
Rick Ferrell (18),
Lee Smith (18),
Ray Schalk (18),
Freddie Lindstrom (13),
High Pockets Kelly (16),
Lloyd Waner (18)
WAR says that by age 21-22, Trout had already passed these Hall-of-Famers in
career achievements.
Sheer Hell (under 20 WAR):
Casey Stengel (14),
Ned Hanlon (13),
Al Lopez (19),
Tommy McCarthy (13),
Bucky Harris (12),
Wilbert Robinson (17)
This “Rings of Baseball Heaven” chart illustrates that Mike Trout has been doing
a lot more in a lot less playing time than most of the all-time greats. The only
Hall-of-Famers with hellish careers of under 20 WAR are managers. Trout had
passed them all by the end of his second full season. Purgatory consists of
relievers and players who are in the HOF with serious question marks. Limbo is a
gray area, full of questionable Hall-of-Famers. In the first level of baseball
heaven, we find active prospects for the HOF, if they can keep producing. But
Trout had flown by them all at age 25. In the second level, we have memorable
names like three-time MVP Yogi Berra. Trout left them eating his dust at 26. In
the third level, induction to the HOF is increasingly likely. Trout flashed by
them at age 27 to 28. The fourth level begins the top 100 players of all time.
At this level induction is virtually assured, as with Derek Jeter most recently.
Jeter was inducted on the first ballot, but Trout zoomed past him in half the
playing time. The fifth level begins the top 60 players. Trout is already here,
a decade ahead of schedule. So as long as he stays reasonably healthy, it seems
inevitable that Trout will join the top 30 players in the sixth level. The last
step is the top 15 in the Seventh Heaven. And that is where Halo Man very
obviously belongs, if he can play long enough.
Mike Trout, according to FiveThirtyEight, is "outrageously consistent
at being outrageously great."
Sports Illustrated cited the
"unprecedented greatness" of Mike Trout.
Baseball Essential said Trout "is the sport's best player" and "whoever
is in second is nowhere close."
CBS Sports called what Trout has done
at such a young age "absurd" and "ridiculous."
How good is Mike Trout, really? While guest-starring in the booth at the Angels'
2019 home opener, former Angel hall-of-famer Rod
Carew was asked if Trout reminded him of anybody from his playing days. Carew, a
seven-time batting champion who finished with 3,053 hits and one of the highest
batting averages (.328) of the modern era, quickly replied that he's never seen
anybody like Trout. "No, he's in a class of his own," Carew said. As if to
confirm that statement, Trout immediately crushed a homer on a changeup below
the zone. He went on to hit five homers in four games despite being mostly
walked by justifiably fearful pitchers.
Why such accolades? Is it just
hype? No, because ...
Mike Trout was the GOAT at Age 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26 and 27!
Mike Trout passed Ty Cobb and Mickey Mantle in age 27 fWAR with two-thirds of
the 2019 season remaining. As Neil Paine observed: "Through every single age in
which he played a full season, Mike Trout has been the all-time career leader in
WAR for position players. No player has ever started his career on this kind of
tear — not Ruth, not Cobb, not Mantle, nobody!"
In other words, nearly 20,000 men have played major
league baseball and according to WAR not a single one of them was as good as
Trout at any age he has reached so far!
How did he do it? By outslugging Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron, by getting on
base more frequently than Stan Musial and Wade Boggs, and by having a better
base-stealing percentage than speed merchants like Willie Wilson, Davey Lopes,
Billy Hamilton and Ichiro Suzuki. Yes, we have seen sluggers who could run, like
Willie Mays and Barry Bonds, but we have never
seen an all-time great slugger who was a more efficient base stealer than the
pirates just mentioned. Since he's been playing close
to a
gold glove level in centerfield, Mike Trout's total game comes as close to
perfection as we've seen in his era. And
he's always a contender for the sabermetric triple crown, however it's defined.
Age 27 WAR
The final ranking below is where the player ended up on the all-time career list, with
Babe Ruth being first, Ty Cobb second, etc. What this list tells us, I believe,
is that when players are this talented, the only things that can derail them are
major injuries and military service.
(1)
Mike Trout
72.4 final=?
(2) Ty Cobb 69.0 final=6
(3) Mickey Mantle 68.1 final=20 (serious injuries)
(4) Rogers Hornsby 63.7 final=12
(5)
Alex Rodriguez 63.6 final=16
(6)
Jimmie Foxx 62.6 final=33
(7)
Ken Griffey Jr. 59.2 final=56 (serious injuries)
(8) Mel Ott 59.1 final=22
(9)
Hank Aaron 56.0 final=7
(10) Tris Speaker 55.7 final=9
(11) Eddie Collins 55.0 final=13
(12) Albert Pujols 54.9 final=31
(13)
Eddie Mathews 53.7 final=33
(14) Arky Vaughan 53.2 final=83 (three years military service, only played 14
years and parts of some of those)
(15)
Willie Mays 51.0 final=5 (he missed a year to military service, or he
would have been much higher)
(16) Frank Robinson 50.9 final=24
(17) Rickey Henderson 50.5 final=19
(18)
Barry Bonds 50.3 final=4 (much of his
stunning climb after his prime years can be attributed to PEDs)
(19)
Babe Ruth 50.3 final=1
(20)
Johnny Bench 50.0 final=77 (serious injuries, was not the same player after
major lung surgery at age 27)
(21) Al Kaline
48.9 final=42
(22)
Lou Gehrig 48.9 final=18 (fatal illness forced early retirement)
(23)
Joe DiMaggio 52.5 final=68 (three years military service, only played 13
years and parts of some of those)
(24) Stan Musial
48.4 final=11
(28) Ted Williams 45.1 final=14
(three years of military service before age 27; two more years of service later)
(198) Honus Wagner 24.3 final=10
When players have 50 WAR at age 27, they are guaranteed to be Hall of Famers if
they keep their noses clean. A-Rod and Barry Bonds are the only question marks
here. Bonds had his "ultra" years after doing PEDs. A-Rod may have cheated his
entire career, or most of it. Ted Williams would have been
much higher on this list if not for missing five years
due to military service. Honus Wagner is the only "outlier" in the list above.
He had his first 8-WAR season at age 30, stayed ultra-productive to age 38, and
played until age 43. Wagner only had 24.3 WAR at age 27, but finished tenth of
all time with 130.8 career WAR.
In the following discussions about WAR, please keep in mind that for a single
season the all-star level is approximately five, while MVP level is typically
seven to eight. Anything over eight WAR is "beyond elite," especially when
maintained for a number of years, as measured by WAR5, WAR7 and WAR per 162
games, which I explore on this page. Ten-WAR seasons are exceedingly rare.
Steroid abusers aside, there have been only five such seasons since 2000: Mookie
Betts 10.9 in 2018, Mike Trout 10.5 in 2012, Mike Trout 10.5 in 2016,
Mike Trout 10.2 in 2018, and Bryce Harper 10.0 in 2015.
So if not for Mike Trout, we could expect one ten-WAR season per decade. Barry
Bonds never had a ten-WAR season until he started cheating. Mark McGwire never
came close to a ten-WAR season even when he was cheating. A ten-WAR season is an
incredibly rare thing ... unless your name happens to be Mike Freakin' Trout!
Only three things in life are certain: death, taxes
and Mike Trout's WAR.
Since 1900, only 27 position players have had seasons
of ten bWAR or higher. Mike Trout was the youngest ever, as a 20-year-old rookie. In
2018 he did it for the third time, moving up in an ultra-select group of players
with multiple ten-WAR seasons: Babe Ruth (9), Willie Mays (6), Rogers Hornsby
(6), Mike Trout (3), Mickey Mantle
(3), Ted Williams (3), Ty Cobb (3), Barry Bonds (3), Honus Wagner (2), Lou
Gehrig (2), Carl Yastrzemski (2) and Cal Ripken (2). These are the players with
the highest peaks in baseball history and the majority of such seasons came in
their late twenties or thirties. Trout is the only
player with three ten-WAR seasons by age 26.
If we raise the bar to three
seasons of 10.5 WAR or higher, the group shrinks to six players: Ruth (6), Mays
(5), Williams (3), Mantle (3), Cobb (3) and Bonds (3). Trout was headed to join
them in 2019, before his season-ending injury. If he has one more Troutian year, he'll shoot up to fourth in this
exclusive club. And no other member has been as consistently great as Trout from
the start. Even the mighty Babe had off years. But Trout has been on a
career-long hot streak. His lowest full-season WAR was 7.9 fWAR, which is still
MVP level. In fact, he won the MVP that year.
Let's allow that to register for a minute: in Mike Trout's "worst" full
season ever, he was the MVP!
According to WAR, Mike Trout should be a five-time MVP. Here are
all eight-WAR seasons in
both leagues since Trout played his
first full season, plus the MVPs for both leagues:
2012 — Trout 10.7 (*), Robinson Cano 8.2,
Buster Posey 7.2 NL MVP, Miguel Cabrera 6.9 AL MVP (the rookie got royally rooked!)
2013 — Trout 9.2, Carlos Gomez 8.4, Andrew McCutchen 8.2 NL
MVP, Josh Donaldson 8.0, Cabrera 7.2 AL MVP
2014 — Trout 7.9 AL MVP (**), Clayton Kershaw 7.7 AL MVP
2015 — Trout 9.4, Bryce Harper 9.9 NL MVP, Donaldson 8.8 AL
MVP, Paul Goldschmidt 8.8
2016 — Trout 10.6 AL MVP, Mookie Betts 9.6, Kris Bryant 7.7 NL
MVP
2017 — Trout 6.7 (***), Jose Altuve 8.3 AL MVP, Aaron Judge
8.1, Giancarlo Stanton 7.6 NL MVP
2018 — Trout 10.2 (****), Betts 10.9 AL MVP, Christian Yelich
7.6 NL MVP
2019 — Trout 8.6 AL MVP (*****), Alex Bregman 8.5, Cody
Bellinger NL MVP 7.8, Christian Yelich 7.8, Anthony Rendon 7.0
(*) Trout set the all-time record for WAR by a rookie. But he started the 2012
season in the minors and only played 139 games. If we adjust his WAR for a full
slate of 162 games, it rises to 12.5, and there have only been three 12.5 WAR
seasons by position players: Ruth twice and Yastrzemski once. In his first 162
games, Trout hit .309 with 32 homers, 49 steals and 136 runs. That's crazy
because only one player in MLB history put together a .300-30-50 season with 130
runs, and Trout did it from the get-go. Trout's OPS+ as a rookie would be the
lowest of his career, 168, but it would lead the entire AL and set the all-time
record for a 20-year-old. As a rookie Trout led the AL in runs, steals, overall
WAR, offensive WAR, OPS+, offensive win percentage, power-speed, and win
probability added.
(**) Trout's lowest full-season WAR
(7.9) is better than the highest
seasons of superstars like Chipper Jones, Tim Raines, Buster Posey and Jim
Thome.
(***) In 2017, while playing only 114 games due to an injury, Trout finished the
year with 6.7 WAR. That translates to 9.6 WAR for a full season.
(****) In 2018, Trout missed 22 games due to injuries. His 10.2 WAR in 140 games
translates to 11.8 WAR for a full season. However, Mookie Betts' 10.9 WAR in 136
games translates to 12.9 WAR, so he absolutely deserved the AL MVP.
(*****) In 2019, Trout had 1.9 WAR in the first 11 games. The average MLB
starter accumulates 2.0 WAR over the course of a full season. As one shocked fan
put it: "This dude is having a league average value season after 11 games WTF?"
Trout's 8.6 WAR in 134 games translates to 10.4 WAR for 162 games.
Incredibly, Trout led the AL in WAR for every full season he played until Betts
had his magical 2018 season. In five out of eight seasons, Trout led both
leagues in WAR. He should have been the AL MVP in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and
2016. In other words, he should have been the MVP for every full season he
played until his injury in 2017. And even then he finished fourth in the MVP
voting despite missing a third of the season. How crazy good is that?
Let's allow this to sink in: Mike Trout started out
his career with five consecutive MVP seasons!
Trout is already #5 all-time in MVP shares, and he's still relatively young.
In half the playing time, on average, Trout
has already passed legends like Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Lou Gehrig,
Joe DiMaggio, Frank Robinson, Mike Schmidt, Jimmie Foxx, Yogi Berra, Eddie
Collins, Hank Greenberg, Pete Rose, Charlie Gehringer, Rogers Hornsby, George
Brett, Reggie Jackson, Harmon Killebrew, Ken Griffey Jr., Joe Morgan, Mel Ott,
Ernie Banks and Roberto Clemente.
MVP SHARES
Mike Trout has 6.53 MVP shares, with hopefully many years left to play. Here is the all-time
MVP share rankings:
Barry Bonds (9.30)
Stan Musial (6.96)
Albert Pujols (6.91)
Mike Trout (6.53)
Ted Williams (6.43)
Willie Mays (5.94)
Mickey Mantle (5.79)
Hank Aaron (5.45)
Joe DiMaggio (5.45)
Lou Gehrig (5.45)
Alex Rodriguez (5.23)
The only player in baseball history with more MVP awards than Mike Trout is
Barry Bonds, and four of Bonds' awards came after he cheated with PEDs.
Furthermore, only Trout and Stan Musial earned three MVP awards by age 28.
Trout already has eight top-four MVP finishes, ranking high in this exclusive
list: Bonds (10), Pujols (9), Trout (8),
Mays (8), Musial (8), Ted Williams (8), Mantle (7), Aaron (7), Berra (7)
The 2017, 2018 and 2019 Hall of Fame classes included nine position players,
listed here with their best WAR season in parentheses: Jeff Bagwell (8.2), Tim
Raines (7.6), Ivan Rodriguez (6.5), Chipper Jones (7.6), Vladimir Guerrero
(7.4), Jim Thome (7.5), Alan Trammell (8.2), Harold Baines (4.3) and Edgar
Martinez (7.0). They combined to play in 176 MLB seasons, during which time the
nine superstars combined for the same number of top-two MVP finishes that Trout
had in his first seven seasons. In an interesting synchronicity their nine best
bWAR seasons added together (64.3) exactly match what Trout produced in his
first seven seasons. In other words, if we take the very best seasons of nine
hall-of-famers, we end up with Mike Trout and he spots them two seasons. That's
insane!
Here's another way to look at WAR and the HOF: The average HOFer accumulated 69
WAR over 18 seasons. Trout eclipsed 69 WAR before completing his eighth full
season. So Trout has matched the career production of the average HOFer in less
than half the playing time. If we switch to WAR per 162 games to account for the
fact that not all seasons are equal, the average HOFer accumulated 5.2 WAR per
162 games (right around all-star level), while Trout's rate is 9.3 (well above
MVP level and second only to Babe Ruth). Thus, not quite double, but close. If
we compare counting stats, in 18 years the average HOFer had 225 homers and 225
steals (an interesting equivalence). In half the time, Trout has more homers
(264) and nearly as many steals (197). So by all three measures, Trout is close
to doubling the output of the typical HOFer.
To understand how "crazy good" Mike Trout has been, let's consider how his
per-season WAR ranks with the all-time best seasons, by age:
Age 20 WAR: Mike Trout 10.7, Alex Rodriguez 9.4, Al Kaline 8.2,
Mel Ott 7.4
Age 21 WAR: Rogers Hornsby 9.9, Mike Trout 9.2, Rickey
Henderson 8.8, Eddie Mathews 8.3
Age 22 WAR: Ted Williams 10.6, Bryce Harper 10.0, Ty Cobb 9.9, Mike
Trout 7.9
Age 23 WAR: Ty Cobb 10.6, Willie Mays 10.6, Ted Williams 10.6, Mike
Trout 9.4
Age 24 WAR: Lou Gehrig 11.8, Mickey Mantle 11.3, Ty Cobb 10.7, Mike
Trout 10.6
Age 25 WAR: Babe Ruth 11.9, Mickey Mantle 11.3, Mookie Betts 10.9, Mike
Trout 6.6 (injured)
Age 26 WAR: Babe Ruth 12.9, Robin Yount 10.5, Mike Trout 10.2 (injured),
Rogers Hornsby 10.0
According to Baseball Reference, the age 26 similarity scores for Mike Trout
make his most similar players Frank Robinson, Ken Griffey Jr., Mickey Mantle and
Hank Aaron. That's heady company! But at every age before his injuries, Trout
was ahead
of their pace, according to WAR, OPS+ and a variety of other statistical
measures.
Or how about this comparison from age 19 to 27 (with Trout still having half a
season to go when I did this analysis):
Batting Average: Trout .307, Mantle .311
OBP: Trout .420, Mantle .425
Slugging Percentage: Trout .578, Mantle .569
OPS: Trout .998, Mantle .994
OPS+: Trout 176 , Mantle 173
Extra-Base Hits: Trout 549, Mantle 542
Stolen Bases: Trout 197, Mantle 98
Stolen Base Percentage: Trout 84.5%, Mantle 79.7%
fWAR: Trout 70.3, Mantle 69.7
Through 5,000 plate appearances, Trout and Mantle had exactly the same number of
home runs (262). But Mantle was playing in a more favorable home park for
hitters, had more protection in the batting order, and didn't have to face a
parade of relief pitchers all throwing 95 mph heat for an inning apiece. Mantle
got to face more tiring starters. So Trout being so close to Mantle's numbers is
very impressive indeed. The biggest difference is in stolen bases, where Trout
has doubled Mantle's steals with a substantially higher success rate. Otherwise
they are nearly identical "slash twins" despite Trout's "era disadvantage."
Through 1,139 games played:
Mike Trout .307/.420/.578 1,264 hits 262 home runs 761 walks 197 stolen bases
Willie Mays .320/.394/.595 1,395 hits 268 home runs 544 walks 198 stolen bases
So Trout seems to combine Mantle's OBP with Mays' base-stealing ability. The
three are very similar in hitting, especially when adjusting for Trout's era.
Trout isn't great only when compared to his peers. Trout is great when compared
to the greatest players of all time at similar ages.
Mike Trout started his career with five consecutive
MVP seasons ... then he got ridiculously better!
Mike Trout had the best start in baseball history and could easily have won five
consecutive MVP awards. Then in 2018 he got better. His OBP soared to an insane
.460. He slugged an astronomical .629. His OPS reached 1.088 and his OPS+
exploded to 199. His stolen base percentage shot up to 92.3%. Furthermore, Trout
was the only qualifying MLB center fielder to finish with a 1.000 fielding
percentage in 2018. With his speed, range, homer-robbing heroics and
consistency, he's a legitimate contender for a Gold Glove at a premium defensive
position.
Here's how Tom Ley explained the Trout Conundrum: "The annual
tradition of wondering if Mike Trout is on his way to the greatest season in the
history of baseball seems to start earlier every year, and with good reason.
Trout is entering his age-27 season and coming off one in which his OPS reached
a career-high of 1.088. This is the trajectory of a player who is about to truly
enter his prime, which is a scary thought, given that the not-yet-in-his-prime
Mike Trout is already the best player in the league by a wide, wide margin."
One of the things Trout said he wanted to improve on in 2019 was cutting down on
his strikeouts. How did the new program work out? Here's what
Sports Illustrated said on the subject: "The best player in baseball
is, shockingly, still the best player in baseball. He also continues to do
ludicrous Trout things, like not striking out any more. Seriously: His strikeout
rate is a career-low 11.3%, as is his 2.6% swinging-strike rate—which, by the
way, is the second best in the league. Like a super-advanced AI, Trout keeps
finding and eliminating flaws, inching closer and closer to perfection."
And he did all this despite being the only Angel hitting more than his
weight for much of the season. One can only imagine what Trout would do if, like
Babe Ruth, he had a Lou Gehrig hitting behind him. I discuss this in more detail
later on this page, making the case that Trout has had the weakest batting
support of all the immortal sluggers. Ruth had a "murderers' row" to support
him, Mays had McCovey and Cepeda, Mantle had "the boys of summer," etc.
Mike Trout is WAY ahead of schedule!
Only nine position players have had seven seasons with eight WAR or higher. And
only one of them did it before age 31 ...
Barry Bonds: 16th season, age 36
Ted Williams: 13th season, age 35
Honus Wagner: 13th season, age 35
Eddie Collins: 15th season, age 33
Babe Ruth: 14th season, age 32
Lou Gehrig: 13th season, age 32
Rogers Hornsby: 13th season, age 31
Willie Mays: 11th season, age 31
Mike Trout: 9th season, age 27 — four years faster than any other position
player in MLB history!
Mike Trout by the Numbers
Some of these stats remain "in flux" and in Trout's case may continue to improve
...
0 = Mike Trout had no errors in 2015 and again in 2018 when he was a finalist
for a Rawlings Gold Glove.
1 = Trout is number one among active players in both performance and pay (see
"Moneyball" immediately below).
Trout is first all-time for OPS of right-handed batters facing
right-handed pitching, tied with Jimmie Foxx (1.012).
2 = The most consecutive games Mike Trout has gone without getting on base!
Trout is second all-time for slugging percentage of right-handed batters
facing right-handed pitching (.598).
3 = Trout is third all-time in stolen base efficiency (84.8%) based on a minimum
of 200 attempts.
Trout is third all-time in WRC+, trailing only Babe Ruth and Ted Williams.
4 = Through 1,000 games played, Trout was fourth in total bases accumulated
(including walks and steals) with 2,974.
Trout is fourth all-time in BABIP with two strikes (.361).
5 = Trout is fifth all-time in adjusted OPS+ and keeps gaining on the immortals
above him on this exclusive list. (*)
Trout is fifth all-time in OPS with two strikes (.732).
6 = Trout has six Silver Slugger awards and is sixth all-time in secondary
average, which takes into account walks, steals and extra-base hits.
7 = Trout has made eight consecutive all-star teams and has been a starter seven
years in a row.
Trout is seventh all-time in slugging with two strikes (.394), a few ticks
below Tony Gwynn.
8 = The top eight offensive seasons in Angels history, according to offensive
WAR, all belong to Trout.
Trout and Eddie Mathews are the only MLB players with eight seasons of at
least 25 homers before turning 28.
9 = Trout is ninth all-time in OPS, ahead of Mark McGwire, Mickey Mantle, Joe
DiMaggio, et al.
Trout is ninth all-time in OBP with two strikes (.338), tied with Wade
Boggs and Joey Votto.
10 = By the end of his age 25 season, Trout had already passed ten hall-of-fame
centerfielders in career WAR.
27 = Mike Trout's uniform number. Retire it, already!
30 = Trout was the first rookie to join the 30/30 club, the 30/40 club and he
just missed the 30/50 club by one steal.
222 = The number of hall-of-famers Mike Trout has passed in career WAR;
you can see their names in THE MIKE TROUT WAR WATCH.
(*) It's mind-boggling that Mike Trout has moved ahead of Rogers Hornsby with a
177 career OPS+ and now trails only Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Barry Bonds and Lou
Gehrig. But of course OPS+ doesn't consider things like Trout's superior
base-stealing or defense. And of course Bonds wouldn't rank as high if he hadn't
cheated. So it seems fair to say that Trout already outranks Hornsby, Gehrig and
Bonds, if we consider the five major elements of the game. And WAR per 162 games
confirms that premise, because there Trout ranks second only to Ruth, with
Williams third. Therefore, it looks like a three-man race between Ruth, Williams
and Trout at this point.
Also, shouldn't consistent
excellence be taken into account? Trout's career OPS+ is 177 and he's recorded
168 or higher for eight consecutive seasons. The only players to do both are
Trout, Ruth and Gehrig. If Trout tops 168 in 2020, which seems likely, he will
be at the head of this exclusive class. But to be fair, Ted Williams would
almost surely have had ten consecutive 168+ seasons if he hadn't missed three
full years in his prime due to military service.
Here's an interesting number: .45. Why? Ben Clemens, writing for FanGraphs, did
a "thought experiment" in which he regressed Trout's stats and compared him to
his peers. Clemens concluded that 45% of Mike Trout is "an all-star every year."
And WAR seems to confirm that theory, since Trout averages close to ten WAR per
162 games and five WAR is the all-star level, give or take.
Here's another interesting number: .395. This was Trout's OBP for the first 30
games after he returned from his injury in 2019. This was his "slump." But a
.395 OBP is terrific for 99% of Trout's peers. At mid-season, it would rank 11th
in MLB. As I write this, Trout's OBP has climbed to a staggering .466. So he was
in slump, but only for Mike Freakin' Trout. Because in the middle of his slump,
he was still better than nearly everybody at what he does best: get on base.
Trout just passed some seriously big names on the WAR Charts, including Johnny
"Big Cat" Mize, Harry "The Horse" Heilmann (said to have smashed line drives
harder than everyone except Babe Ruth), and Paul "Big Poison" Waner. In 2020
it's upward and onward to Frank "The Big Hurt" Thomas, "Mr. October" Reggie
Jackson and Johnny Bench. Trout recently passed Carlos Beltran and Miguel
Cabrera in career WAR and has now joined the top 50 fWAR position players of all
time. He's done all this at record speed. The last time I
checked, Mr. Black Ink was leading the AL in WAR, homers, RBI, walks, IBB, times
on base, OBP, slugging, OPS, OPS+, XBH, adjusted batting runs, adjusted batting
wins, offensive win percentage, base-out runs added, base-out wins added, RC,
RC27, wRC, wRC+, wRAA, wOBA, ISOP, SECA, REW, RE24, WPA, WPA/LI, RAR, AB/HR and
BB/PA. As Sports Illustrated recently asked then rhetorically answered,
how can Trout win the MVP award when his team isn't winning and everyone seems
to be creating nonsensical reasons to reward someone else? Well, you can "Lead
your league in every conceivable category." And that's exactly what Trout has
been doing, as all the bold ink demonstrates.
We predict that Mike Trout will pass his 15th HOF centerfielder, the immortal
Joe DiMaggio, in his age 29 season, barring major injuries.
Here's an astonishing fact: No MLB player has more total fWAR since the
beginning of the 2004 season than Mike Trout. But Trout's rookie year was 2012.
So he's spotted his peers eight years and still has more WAR! Since Trout is in
the middle of his eighth full season, this seems to suggest something we will
see again and again on this page. From a variety of angles, over the long haul
Trout appears to be twice as good as nearly all his peers. He doesn't have off
years and continues to widen the gap by having 10+ WAR seasons. And while it's
possible that someone like Clayton Kershaw, Mookie Betts, Cody Bellinger or
Christian Yelich might string together enough great seasons to avoid being
"doubled," it doesn't seem possible that any of them could catch Trout in career
WAR as long as he stays reasonably healthy.
Moneyball
As further confirmation of his greatness, Mike Trout has topped the MLB
Network's list of the "Top 100 Right Now" a stunning
six
times. Far behind Trout on the 2018 list were prized free agents Manny Machado
(14th) and Bryce Harper (15th). Machado signed a $300 million contract with the
San Diego Padres. Harper signed with the Phillies for $330 million. So how much
is Mike Trout worth? FanGraphs published an article documenting that, according
to WAR, Mike Trout is better than Manny Machado and Bryce Harper
combined! Harper and Machado together produced 60.9 WAR
from 2012 to 2018. Over the same period, Trout produced 64.0 WAR. If they're
worth $660 million together, what is Trout worth? (Trout's worst season was
better than Machado's best season and Trout had seven of the eight best
individual seasons between the three players, with only Harper's MVP season
besting Trout's worst season.) If Machado and Harper are worth $660 million,
Trout must be worth more. It's simple moneyball math! So the Angels got a real
bargain when Trout signed a ten-year extension for "just" $360 million. With the
two years remaining on Trout's original contract, the total deal is around $430
million for twelve years, or nearly half a billion dollars. But I agree with Ben
Lindbergh's article titled "Mike Trout Isn't Worth $430 Million—He’s Worth Much
More." Lindbergh explains Trout's dilemma concisely: "The problem for Trout is
that he's too good to be paid what he's worth."
Hell, he had to give the Angels more than a quarter billion discount!
Here, I'll do the math:
$660 million * 64.0 / 60.9 = $694 million billable - $430 million paid = $264
million (a 38% discount)
Forbes used WAR per at-bat to determine Trout's ROI (return on
investment) compared to other recent megadeals. Trout has produced one point of
WAR every 71 at-bats. No one else in recent memory is close. So far in his
career, for example, Harper has taken 162 at-bats to produce a single point of
WAR.
Forbes determined that Trout's ROI is 32% better than the average of
the recent megadeals for Harper, Machado, Nolan Arenado and Miguel Cabrera (at
the time his contract was signed). Interestingly, that 32% is pretty close to
the 38% discount I figured above. (I came up with my calculation before I read
the
Forbes article.)
However, Forbes may need to update their article and massively increase the ROI
they calculated, because early in 2019 the number of at-bats it has taken Trout
to produce a point of WAR has dropped to 25 (he had 2.0 WAR in his first 50
at-bats).
Another way to figure Mike Trout's true worth is by using the typical contract
dollars per "win." On the current free agent market, according to FanGraphs and
other sources, one win is worth around $10 million dollars. Since Trout
typically produces around 10 WAR per season, he should make around $100 million
per year. And because the cost of a win keeps going up over time, there should
be an inflation factor built in. According to this method of valuation, Trout is
an absolute steal for the Angels. He's clearly worth a billion dollars over the
next ten years. If we factor in inflation, the discount Trout gave the Angels
grows enormously. Here's a stab at the math:
12 years * 9.9 average WAR per 162 games * $10 million per WAR = $1.2 billion
before inflation = some absolutely insane figure with inflation!
While it's possible that Trout's WAR could decline at some point due to the
aging process, great players have had 9+ WAR seasons later in their careers: Ted
Williams (38), Babe Ruth (35-36), Willie Mays (35), Tris Speaker (35), Honus
Wagner (34), Nap Lajoie (35), Barry Bonds (36-39). Trout is as skilled as any of
them and a better athlete than most, if not all, so it's possible that he could
average 9 to 10 WAR for his career. But even if WAR deflation cancels out price
inflation, something in the vicinity of a cool billion seems to be Trout's real
value. Thus the discount Trout gave the Angels is probably closer to half a
billion dollars!
Aaron Gleeman of Baseball Prospectus used the PECOTA system to project
that Mike Trout will produce 80.3 WARP over the next ten years. (Ken Griffey
Jr., a first-ballot hall-of-famer, took 22 years to produce 80.3 WARP.) After
crunching the numbers and allowing for inflation, Gleeman invoked the b-word, as
did ESPN's Sam Miller. FiveThirtyEight.com agrees that Trout will be playing at
a massive discount to his true value, saying: "the Angels will basically be
paying him half of what he’d be worth on the open market over the next few
seasons."
When informed of Trout's massive new contract, Albert Pujols joked, "Pretty sure
I ain't paying one more dinner for him!"
But Trout is worth the big bucks. As of August 1, 2019, he had 6.9 fWAR, while
Manny Machado (2.8) and Bryce Harper (2.3) together had 5.1, or 74%. But they
were in good company because Trout had double the fWAR of Francisco Lindor, J.T.
Realmuto, Jorge Polanco, Freddie Freeman, Michael Brantley, Ramon Laureano,
Trevor Story, and Josh Bell.
The Ultimate Five-Tool Player
(1) Getting on base: Mike Trout's career OBP is .418, exceeding that of Stan
Musial, Wade Boggs, Mel Ott, Harry Heilmann and Charlie Gehringer. And Trout's
OBP has been rising, as wary pitchers walk him more and more. Trout has
led the AL in OBP for three consecutive years, reaching a sky-high .460 in 2018.
Early in 2019 his OBP has been consistently around .475 or higher. And Trout's
OBP has been remarkably consistent, topping .400 for 17 of the last 18 months,
as of May 2019. His "worst" month during that period was .385 in September 2017.
That's still remarkably good, and happens to be around the career level of
Willie Mays, Goose Goslin, Wee Willie Keeler, Tony Gwynn and Frank Robinson. So
at his "worst" Trout remains in stellar company.
(2) Hitting with power: Mike Trout's career slugging percentage is .575, exceeding
that of Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Johnny Mize, Albert
Belle, Larry Walker, Juan Gonzalez, Frank Thomas, Jim Thome, Vladimir Guerrero,
Jim Thome, et al.
(3) Speed: Mike Trout's career stolen base percentage (84.58%) is fourth all-time,
based on a minimum 200 attempts. That's better than legendary base stealers like Rickey
Henderson, Lou Brock, Vince Coleman, Willie Wilson, Davey Lopes, Joe
Morgan, Maury Wills, Ty Cobb, Eddie Collins, Honus Wagner, Max Carey, Slidin'
Billy Hamilton, et al. According to FanGraphs' BsR stat, since he started
playing in 2012, Trout has been MLB's second-most-valuable baserunner, after
Billy Hamilton. Trout's BsR puts him ahead of Ty Cobb in
the all-time rankings, in less than half the playing time. Before turning
thirty, Trout will be one of the top 25 baserunners of all time, in far fewer
games than everyone still ahead of him.
Mike Trout has a rare combination of speed and power. He's the first player since
Jackie Jensen in 1955 to have led a league in both steals and RBI.
(4) Fielding: Mike Trout's career fielding percentage of .994 is 12th all-time,
better than nearly every outfielder's. No one above him on the list approaches
him as a hitter. And in this area he has also been improving, going without an
error in 2018.
(5) Throwing: Mike Trout has a cannon arm according to Statcast, which recorded
a 94.8 mph throw from center during a game in September, 2017. While throwing
may seem to be the "weakest" part of Trout's game, there may be a problem of
perception. Is he so amazingly good in every other area that we need something
to criticize? Time will tell, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Trout lead the
AL in outfield assists someday soon. (In 2018 he had seven assists and four
double plays. Early in 2019, he's tied for eighth in AL outfield assists.) In
any case, the speed gun informs us that Mike Trout has a very strong arm. And
there is breaking news on this front. It turns out that Trout has been working
on his arm strength ...
"The One-Man Statcast Show"
This nickname was coined by MLB.com after a July 23, 2019 game in which Trout
hit his 11th homer in 13 days, a 454-foot blast that left his bat at 111 mph and
nearly left Dodger Stadium. In the same game Trout uncorked a 98.6-mph throw
that flew 261 feet to gun down Max Muncy at the plate.
Is Mike Trout too good to be true?
Mike Trout's consistent excellence can be baffling. It's hard to wrap our heads
around. For instance, around the first-quarter mark of the 2019 season, Trout
was having what would have been a career year, for anyone else. But someone on
Reddit remarked that Trout had a "pedestrian" OPS "for MLB" of just 1.013. That
makes no sense to me, because there have been only seven players in
MLB history to maintain a career OPS higher than the magical 1.0
mark: Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Barry Bonds, Jimmy Foxx, Hank
Greenberg, and Rogers Hornsby. Those are the greatest rakers of all time. For
anyone else, a 1.0 OPS is either a career year or a considerable upgrade on
"average." Except that Mike Trout is so exceptional we expect even better from
him. As crazy as it sounds, we now expect Trout to be better than Foxx,
Greenberg and Hornsby.
It may be possible to say a 1.0 OPS is "pedestrian" for
Trout, because he's always close to the magic mark and has now been above it for
three years in a row. But not "for MLB" or anyone else playing today, because
the best "in their prime" players other than Trout aren't close for their
careers: Bryce Harper (.894), Nolan Arenado (.893), J. D. Martinez (.888),
Mookie Betts (.884), Freddie Freeman (.884), Christian Yelich (.864). From
2012-2017 there were only eleven 1.0 OPS seasons, and two of those were by
Trout. Subtract Trout and it's happening 1.5 times per year, on average. In 2018
it was Mookie Betts.
I think the problem is that Trout's "average" year competes with everyone else's
career years and we've become spoiled. Let's see if anyone can string together eight consecutive MVP-level seasons,
never having an off year, before we embarrass them by comparing them to the
Millville Meteor. And even if they do, what will he have done in the meantime?
After all, it's hard to catch a hyperkinetic meteor from behind, when trailing
by half the galaxy!
When Bleacher Report announced that Mike Trout was first in the 2019 AL
all-star voting, Rob Goldberg opined that he was having a "quiet year" with a
1.096 OPS. That equates to a 193 OPS+, which would be second only to Babe Ruth
in the career OPS+ rankings. So there is nothing "quiet" about a 193 OPS+,
unless your name is Mike Freakin' Trout! Consider the players who never had an
OPS+ of 193 or higher: Willie Mays, Tris Speaker, Mel Ott, Joe DiMaggio, Hank
Greenberg, Johnny Mize, just to name a few. Were their best years "quiet" years,
or is Trout actually setting the baseball world on fire in 2019?
It seems to me that we've been spoiled by Mike Trout's consistent excellence.
He's too damn good to be true!
Arguments Against Trout's Greatness
The primary "argument" against the greatness of Mike Trout is that the Angels
haven't been winning championships. But that makes absolutely no sense to me,
because Michael Jordan didn't win any
championships until he was surrounded by championship-caliber teammates like
Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, Charles Oakley, Bill Cartwright, John Paxson, Dennis
Rodman, Toni Kukoc and Steve Kerr. In fact, Jordan was just 1-9 in playoff games
before Pippen and Grant joined the Bulls. Babe Ruth played on losing and mediocre teams ... until he was surrounded by
stars like Lou Gehrig, Bob Meusel, Earle Combs, Tony Lazzeri and Mark Koenig.
Wilt Chamberlain had Jerry West and a loaded roster when the 1971 Lakers set NBA
records for wins and consecutive wins. Before that, despite Chamberlain's
personal domination of the NBA, it had been the Celtics with their loaded
roster racking up championship after championship. No one has ever dominated a
team game like the Great One, Wayne Gretzky. But Gretzky only won championships after he was surrounded by stars
like Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Glenn Anderson and Grant Fuhr.
Before he had great teammates, Gretzky was an insanely great player on losing
and mediocre Edmonton Oiler teams. After he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings,
despite his personal excellence, Gretzky once again played on losing and mediocre
teams. When Tom Brady was injured and unable to play in 2008, the Patriots went
11-5 with a backup quarterback. In 2016 the Patriots went 3-1 when Brady was
suspended for the first four games. So the whole "counting rings" things seems
like a farce to me. In team sports the greatest individual stars do not win
championships by themselves. We see this in the NBA when the first thing LeBron
James does when he joins a new team is work to add players who can help him win
championships. He knows that he needs an Anthony Davis or Kevin Love to win
rings. We saw
this in 2019 when Aaron Judge was injured and the Yankees continued to win
because they have a deep, talented roster. Rings are won by teams, not
individuals, and that is especially true in MLB with its 25-man rosters.
Another "argument" I often hear is that WAR is an overrated statistic and
Trout isn't really that much better than other star players. If WAR were the only
statistic telling us that Trout really is that much better than his
peers, this
argument might make sense. But really it's a bevy of statistics that confirm
Trout's greatness: OBP, slugging percentage, OPS, OPS+, times on base, total
bases, runs, RBI, stolen base percentage, BB%, ISO, wOBA, wRC+, etc. None of his
peers rank as consistently high in as many categories as Trout. All the stats
add up to an "overwhelming conclusion," to borrow a phrase from T. S. Eliot.
Other "arguments" are that Trout doesn't knock in enough runs and/or doesn't
come through in the clutch. But he's been hitting second on teams that have
struggled to put men on base, especially the bottom third of the lineup. So
Trout doesn't get as many RBI opportunities as his peers on teams like the Astros,
Red Sox, Yankees and Dodgers. And yet Trout has averaged 122 runs and 102 RBI
per 162 games. As for Trout not delivering in the clutch, that's not what his
batting splits say. In 2019 Trout had a 193 OPS+ with runners in scoring
position (RISP). With the bases loaded, when pitchers couldn't intentionally or
semi-intentionally walk him, Trout had an insane 314 OPS+ with 26 RBI in 18
at-bats. Pitchers know the truth. When there's a base open they pitch very
carefully to Mr. Trout because he is a great hitter in the clutch.
When the bases are full and there's nowhere to put him, they become sitting
ducks.
WAR by Age
Age 20 WAR: Mike Trout (11.0), Ty Cobb (9.6), Mickey Mantle
(8.0), Rogers Hornsby (4.5), Jimmie Foxx (6.0), Willie Mays (4.0)
Age 21 WAR: Mike Trout (20.0), Ty Cobb (15.8), Mickey Mantle
(13.8), Rogers Hornsby (14.4), Jimmie Foxx (13.9), Willie Mays (5.3)
Age 22 WAR: Mike Trout (27.6), Ty Cobb (25.7), Mickey Mantle
(20.7), Rogers Hornsby (19.8), Jimmie Foxx (21.0), Willie Mays (5.3)
Age 23 WAR: Mike Trout (37.0), Ty Cobb (36.3), Mickey Mantle
(30.3), Rogers Hornsby (26.5), Jimmie Foxx (25.7), Willie Mays (15.9)
Age 24 WAR: Mike Trout (47.5), Ty Cobb (47.0), Mickey Mantle
(41.6), Rogers Hornsby (36.1), Jimmie Foxx (36.2), Willie Mays (25.0)
Age 25 WAR: Mike Trout (54.1), Ty Cobb (56.2), Mickey Mantle
(52.9), Rogers Hornsby (46.9), Jimmie Foxx (45.4), Willie Mays (32.6) ... Trout
fell slightly behind Cobb due to missing a third of his age 25 season
Age 26 WAR: Mike Trout (64.3), Ty Cobb (63.6), Mickey Mantle
(61.6), Rogers Hornsby (56.9), Jimmie Foxx (54.4, Willie Mays (40.9)
Age 27 WAR: Mike Trout (72.5), Ty Cobb (69.0), Mickey Mantle
(68.1), Rogers Hornsby (63.7), Jimmie Foxx (62.6), Willie Mays (51.0)
Age 27 WAR
The final ranking below is where the player ended up on the all-time career list, with
Babe Ruth being first, Ty Cobb second, etc. What this list tells us, I believe,
is that when players are this talented, the only things that can derail them are
major injuries and military service.
(1)
Mike Trout
72.5 final=?
(2) Ty Cobb 69.0 final=6
(3) Mickey Mantle 68.1 final=20 (serious injuries)
(4) Rogers Hornsby 63.7 final=12
(5)
Alex Rodriguez 63.6 final=16
(6)
Jimmie Foxx 62.6 final=33
(7)
Ken Griffey Jr. 59.2 final=56 (serious injuries)
(8) Mel Ott 59.1 final=22
(9)
Hank Aaron 56.0 final=7
(10) Tris Speaker 55.7 final=9
(11) Eddie Collins 55.0 final=13
(12) Albert Pujols 54.9 final=31
(13)
Eddie Mathews 53.7 final=33
(14) Arky Vaughan 53.2 final=83 (three years military service, only played 14
years and parts of some of those)
(15)
Willie Mays 51.0 final=5 (he missed a year to military service, or he
would have been much higher)
(16) Frank Robinson 50.9 final=24
(17) Rickey Henderson 50.5 final=19
(18)
Barry Bonds 50.3 final=4 (much of his
stunning climb after his prime years can be attributed to PEDs)
(19)
Babe Ruth 50.3 final=1
(20)
Johnny Bench 50.0 final=77 (serious injuries, was not the same player after
major lung surgery at age 27)
(21) Al Kaline
48.9 final=42
(22)
Lou Gehrig 48.9 final=18 (fatal illness forced early retirement)
(23)
Joe DiMaggio 52.5 final=68 (three years military service, only played 13
years and parts of some of those)
(24) Stan Musial
48.4 final=11
(28) Ted Williams 45.1 final=14
(three years of military service before age 27; two more years of service later)
(198) Honus Wagner 24.3 final=10
When players have 50 WAR at age 27, they are guaranteed to be Hall of Famers if
they keep their noses clean. A-Rod and Barry Bonds are the only question marks
here. Bonds had his "ultra" years after doing PEDs. A-Rod may have cheated his
entire career, or most of it. Ted Williams would have been
much higher on this list if not for missing five years
due to military service. Honus Wagner is the only "outlier" in the list above.
He had his first 8-WAR season at age 30, stayed ultra-productive to age 38, and
played until age 43. Wagner only had 24.3 WAR at age 27, but finished tenth of
all time with 130.8 career WAR.
How Is He Doing It?
According to fWAR, Mike Trout will become a top 50 position player when he
passes Reggie Jackson and Luke Appling (both 72.7) some time in 2019. Mr.
October played in 2,820 games. At the time I wrote this, Trout had played in
1,128 games, so he has approximately 40% of Jackson's playing time. For Trout to
match what Reggie Jackson did, in less than half the playing time, seems
stunning to me. But that's true for most of the 193 hall-of-famers he's already
passed. And in many cases, Trout passed stars of the past in one-third the
playing time.
In an average year, Trout is worth around 9.4 wins. Only 45 members of the Hall
of Fame had one such season. Eighty
percent of HOFers haven't had one
year as good as Trout's average season.
The same is true for active players. Check out the ages of Trout's closest peers
in career WAR: Justin Verlander (36), Zack Greinke (35), Robinson Cano (36),
Carlos Beltran (40), Miguel Cabrera (36), Albert Pujols (39). By the end of his
age 27 season, I predict that Mike Trout will have passed every active player
other than his teammate Albert Pujols, who has been hovering around the magical
100 WAR mark. That means Trout will have passed Cano, Beltran, Cabrera, Greinke
and Verlander while spotting them around a decade of playing time.
But we should be fair to stars like Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays and Ted Williams,
who sacrificed some of their prime years to military service. They would be
further ahead, and harder to catch in terms of baseball WAR, if not for their
service in the real thing.
Stadium Factor
Mike Trout had done all this despite playing half his games in one of the most
"pitcher-friendly" ballparks. According to an ESPN article, "Angel Stadium was
the only ballpark in the past five seasons to have a park factor that ranked
among the top-10 most pitching friendly in every category." ESPN ranked Angel
Stadium 28th (out of 30) at being tough on hitters. And the "hindrance" is
significant. These are the five-year deviances from the MLB norms:
Runs 0.879, HR 0.840, HR (RHB) 0.861, HR (LHB) 0.800.
Christian Yelich's Milwaukee stadium is third most friendly to hitters. Mookie
Betts' stadium is sixth most friendly. Joey Votto's stadium is eighth most
friendly. Aaron Judge's stadium is tenth most friendly. Miguel Cabrera's stadium
is eleventh most friendly. And while Cody Bellinger's stadium is not a hitter's
paradise, it favors left-handed power hitters and is five notches easier than
Angel Stadium in general.
So Mike Trout has been doing more, with less (help from his home stadium).
The Measuring Rod
How do we know when the baseball season is in "full swing," if you'll pardon the
pun? How can we tell when unsustainable early-season heroics are officially
over? In the past, it was when the last batter slipped below the .400 mark. But
in the sabermetric era, it has become the day Mike Trout is first or second in
WAR, which is inevitably where he ends up. Since his rookie season in 2012,
Trout has always finished first or second in WAR when healthy, and usually
first. In 2019 that happened in mid-June when Trout passed Cody Bellinger in
fWAR.
Baseball Genes
Mike Trout has good baseball genes. His father, Jeff Trout, had the
fourth-highest batting average in NCAA history, hitting .519 in 1983. His
grandfather's nickname was "Bat" Trout, because "he was the best left-handed
hitter in South Jersey." His mother, Debbie, was a softball player.
"Fishy" baseball names include: Mike Trout, Dizzy Trout, Steve Trout, Tim
Salmon, Chico Salmon, Mike Carp, Sid Bream, "Catfish" Hunter, "Mudcat" Grant,
Lip Pike, Ralph Garr, A.J. Pollock, Kevin Bass, Randy Bass, Anthony Bass, Bobby
Sturgeon, George Haddock, Cod Meyers, Ed Whiting, Marlin Stuart, "Oyster" Burns,
Roy Crab, Callix Crabbe, Jesse "Crab" Burkett, Johnny "Crab" Evers, Estel
"Crabby" Crabtree, Fred "Whale" Walters, Mickey Rivers, Steve Lake, John
Wetteland, Muddy Ruel, Bobby Scales, Neal Finn, Johnny Gill, Gil Hodges, Benji
Gil, Jay Hook, Hooks Dauss, Newt Fisher, George "Showboat" Fisher, Allyn "Fish
Hook" Stout, Nate Spears, Ray Blades, Ray King, Johnny Ray, Chris Ray, Hank
Conger, Harry Eels, Snapper Kennedy, Oscar Gamble, Melvin Mora, Brandon Puffer,
Bob Lurie and Chub Feeney
But we all must bow down to the landslide winner: Art "Red" Herring!
If the daughter of Hank Conger married the son of Harry Eels, their children
would be Conger Eeels.
Ironically, Mike Trout doesn't have the best WAR season by a baseball-playing
Trout, or at least not yet! Dizzy Trout had 11.3 WAR during an amazing 1944
season in which he won 27 games, threw 352.1 innings and had a glittering 2.12
ERA. He earned 1.5 of that WAR at the plate, hitting .271 and slugging .429 with
four doubles, a triple, five homers and 24 RBI. His son Steve "Rainbow" Trout
also pitched in the majors, winning 88 games over a twelve-year career.
Mike Trout's Flying Start
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has been called the next Mike Trout. On May 14, 2019 he
hit two home runs, at age 20 plus 59 days. In MLB history, only six players have
hit two homers in a single game at a younger age. One of them was Mike Trout. He
accomplished the feat nearly a year earlier, shortly after his 19th birthday.
Trout got off to baseball's fastest start ever, according to advanced metrics.
In 2012, in his age 20 season, Trout became the first rookie to join the 30-30
club. But it was closer to the 30-50 club because Trout stole 49 bases while
being caught just five times. (There have only been two 30-50 seasons in
baseball history: Eric Davis in 1987 and Barry Bonds in 1990.) As a rookie Trout
was the Wilson Overall Defensive Player of the Year and should have been
the AL MVP as well. Thus at age 20 he was a superstar both offensively and
defensively. (Here are two quick
examples: Trout's stolen base percentage is 3rd all-time and his fielding
percentage is 12th. And those aren't even his major strengths.)
Mike Trout had the most WAR ever by a rookie position player. These are the best
rookie seasons of all time: Mike Trout (10.7), Shoeless Joe
Jackson (9.2), Dick Allen (8.8), Aaron Judge (8.1), Ichiro Suzuki (7.7), Fred
Lynn (7.4), Carlton Fisk (7.2), Mike Piazza (7.0), Tony Oliva (6.8), Troy
Tulowitzki (6.8), Ted Williams (6.7), Frank Robinson (6.6), Albert Pujols (6.6),
Nomar Garciaparra (6.6), Vada Pinson (6.5). It bears noting that Shoeless Joe
Jackson may not have qualified as a rookie due to roster time limits, since he
played parts of three seasons in the majors before breaking out in his age 23
season. So the claim can be made that Trout was two WAR better than his closest
rookie competitor.
Due to injuries in 2017 and 2018, for a short period of time Trout did fall
slightly behind Ty Cobb's pace. But even with that lost time, by the end of the
2018 season he had once again passed the immortal Cobb ... and every other
player who ever played in the majors! This is MLB's all-time AGE 26 WAR
BOARD:
Mike Trout: 64.3
Ty Cobb: 63.6
Mickey Mantle: 61.4
Rogers Hornsby: 56.9
Alex Rodriguez: 55.2
At the time Trout re-passed Cobb, he had played in 1,054 games to Cobb's 1,143.
If Trout had played the same number of games as Cobb at his "average daily
value," he would have 68.8 WAR and would thus lead Cobb by more than an all-star
season of five WAR.
The same is true if we look at WAR for players' first nine years of experience,
rather than raw age:
Mike Trout: 69.5 (with half a season to go!)
Willie Mays: 68.5
Mickey Mantle: 68.2
Barry Bonds: 66.4
Ty Cobb: 63.6
...
Babe Ruth: 50.5
Mays and Mantle were ultra-close after the first nine years. Mantle's bad knees
and drinking would prevent him from keeping up with Mays for the long haul. But
the Mick still finished with 110.3 WAR, which is in the top 15 for position
players. Mays would finish third with 156.4 WAR. Cobb is right behind him in
fourth place with 151.0 WAR. Bonds with 162.8 WAR is second only to Babe Ruth.
So Trout is atop a heady list. Of course Ruth will start to show up in future
lists, and then the real challenge will be on.
Here's an astonishing fact: No player has more total WAR since the beginning of
the 2004 season than Mike Trout. But Trout's rookie year was 2012. So he's
spotted all his peers eight years and still has more WAR!
In other words, this Trout guy is seriously good! For both his age and
experience, according to WAR, he's the best ever, through age 27.
Here is MLB's all-time AGE 27 WAR BOARD:
Mike Trout (72.4)
Ty Cobb (69.0)
Mickey Mantle (68.0)
Rogers Hornsby (63.6)
Alex Rodriguez (63.6)
Jimmie Foxx (62.8)
Willie Mays (51.2)
Babe Ruth (50.3)
*Ted Williams (45.1)
(*) Ted Williams might rank first on this list if not for three years
lost to military service, since he averaged 10.7 WAR for the three closest years
to those he didn't play.
Incredibly, Mike Trout at age 27 has been widening the gap between himself and baseball's
greatest immortals. However, Babe Ruth will start to shoot up in future age
rankings, with a monster 14.1 WAR season at age 28, the highest ever.
So how does Trout compare to his contemporary peers? It isn't even close. Andrew
Simon conducted an interesting experiment, to see if three elite players could
exceed Trout's WAR output. Simon combined the slugging of Giancarlo Stanton
(then MLB's best power hitter), the base-running of Billy Hamilton and the
defensive wizardry of Kevin Kiermaier ... but the experiment ended in a tie.
That's pretty amazing, because a fair trade would be Trout for baseball's best
slugger, its best base-runner and
its best defensive centerfielder. (Simon did eek out a teeny-tiny "win" by
swapping Kiermaier for shortstop Andrelton Simmons.)
Another way to look at this is to compare Trout's "worst" full-season WAR to his
peers' best seasons. Trout's worst full-season WAR was 7.9, which is still
MVP-level. Here are Trout's peers who never had more than 7.9 WAR in a single
season: Giancarlo Stanton (7.9), Joey Votto (7.7), Miguel Cabrera (7.6), Kris
Bryant (7.4), Christian Yelich (7.3), Manny Machado (7.1), David Ortiz (6.4), J.
D. Martinez (6.4), Anthony Rizzo (6.4).
According to FanGraphs, Trout's 67.4 fWAR since his first full season in 2012 is
vastly more than any other position player's during that time span. Buster Posey
is a distant second with 46.4 fWAR. (In effect, Trout leads Posey by four
all-star seasons and the gap has been rapidly widening.) Bryce Harper has less than
half Trout's fWAR and he and Trout were called up from the minors, never to
return, on exactly the same day: April 28, 2012. Other players with around half
Trout's fWAR or less during the same period include Robinson Cano, Joey Votto,
Giancarlo Stanton, Mookie Betts, Nolan Arenado, Jose Altuve, Christian Yelich,
Adrian Beltre, Miguel Cabrera, Matt Carpenter, Freddie Freeman, Manny Machado,
J.D. Martinez and Yadier Molina. And while Bosox fans dream Mookie Betts will
one day catch and pass Mike Trout, that hope seems illusory because Betts had
24.3 bWAR by age 24, while Trout had nearly double the bWAR at the same age. It
would take 12 years of Betts cranking out 12-WAR seasons, while Trout cranks out
10-WAR seasons, to close the gap. Christian Yelich
is the same age as Trout and trails him by nearly 40 bWAR. How can anyone make
up 20 to 40 WAR on Mike Trout as long as he's relatively healthy? And really, it
seems more likely that Trout will widen the gap on his less consistent peers,
just as he has been doing with immortals like Ernie Banks, Joe Cronin, Duke
Snider and Goose Goslin, all of whom he recently passed in career WAR in around
one-third the playing time.
Support, or Lack Thereof
To illustrate Mike Trout's lack of support compared to other hitting immortals,
here's a quick chart of the all-time WAR Lords, with their peak seasons and the
career-high OPS+ of their best "supporters" during those periods. Hall of Fame
supporters are bolded:
Babe Ruth (1920-1931) had Lou Gehrig (220), Tony
Lazzeri (159), Earle Combs (158), Bill Dickey
(158)
Barry Bonds (1990-2004) had Matt Williams (177), Will Clark (175), Ellis Burks
(163), Jeff Kent (162), Bobby Bonilla (160), Andy Van Slyke (150)
Willie Mays (1954-1971) had Willie McCovey (209),
Orlando Cepeda (165),
Monte Irvin (147), Jim Ray Hart (151), Hank Thompson (146),
Bobby Bonds (144)
Ty Cobb (1907-1926) had Harry Heilmann (194), Sam
Crawford (167), Bobby Veach (159), Heinie Manush
(154), Charlie Gehringer (149)
Rogers Hornsby (1921-1929) had Jim Bottomley (162),
Chick Hafey (157), Ray Blades (141), Billy Southworth
(140)
Mickey Mantle (1952-1964) had Roger Maris (167), Enos Slaughter (156),
Elston Howard (153), Bill Skowron (145), Yogi Berra (142)
Ted Williams (1941-1957) had
Jimmie Foxx (207), Joe Cronin (176), Bobby Doerr (165), Vern Stephens
(159), Jackie Jensen (148)
Mike Trout has not been blessed with that kind of support. None of his full-time
teammates would make the list above (Shohei Ohtani did not become a full-time
hitter until 2021). The highest OPS+ achieved by Trout's supporting cast was in his first
full year, 2012, when Albert Pujols registered 138 and Torri Hunter had 129.
Since then Pujols has been in a steady decline and the rest of the Angels have
been terrible to slightly above average, with the best full-time seasons being
by Pujols (81-126), Kole Calhoun (83-123), Justin Upton (122), Howie Kendrick
(75-118), Josh Hamilton (79-115), C. J. Cron (69-115), Mark Trumbo (100-109),
David Freese (56-109), Andrelton Simmons (91-109) and Erick Aybar (68-107).
The Angels' best hitters do not begin to compare with any of the ones above.
This makes Trout's accomplishments all the more impressive. Has any great hitter
ever done so much with so little support over such a long period of time?
In the meantime, here is what Mike Trout has done, starting with his first full
season ...
2012 — Led all MLB in WAR (Pujols 138 OPS+, Hunter 129)
2013 — Led all MLB in WAR (Pujols 116 OPS+, Kendrick 118)
2014 — Led all MLB in WAR (Pujols 126 OPS+, Calhoun 123)
2015 — Led the AL in WAR (Pujols 118 OPS+, Freese 109)
2016 — Led all MLB in WAR (Pujols 113 OPS+, Calhoun 116)
2017 — Finished tenth in WAR despite missing a third of the season and having no
support (Pujols 81 OPS+, Simmons 103, team 92)
2018 — Finished second in WAR despite missing 22 games (Upton 122 OPS+, Simmons
109, Pujols 92, Ohtani part-time 151, team 99)
Mookie Betts played on a 2018 Boston Red Sox team with six hitters with an OPS+
of 100 or higher, including J. D. Martinez at 173.
Aaron Judge played on a 2018 New York Yankees team with eight starters with an
OPS+ of 118 or higher.
Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor played on a 2018 Cleveland Indians team with
six hitters with an OPS+ of 100 or higher, and four over 115.
Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve played on a 2018 Houston Astros team with eight
players with an OPS+ of 100 or higher.
Mike Trout played on a 2018 Los Angeles Angels team with two other full-time
starters with an OPS+ of 100 or higher.
Trout has been setting the baseball world on fire with precious little help from
the hitters behind him in the order.
The Ohtani Effect
In his 2018 rookie season Ohtani slashed .285/.361/.564/.925 with an OPS+ of 151
in 367 plate appearances. After missing the first part of the 2019 season,
Ohtani was slashing .303/.353/.567/.925 with a 142 OPS+ in 218 plate
appearances. Per 162 games, Ohtani has slashed .292/.358/.567/.925 with
a 147 OPS+. Other 162-game averages are 31 doubles, 37 homers, 102 RBI, 14
steals and 306 total bases. Ohtani has 4.6 WAR as a position player and 5.7 WAR
including his pitching. So he's a legitimate all-star, and the Angel most likely
to persuade pitchers to think twice about walking Mike Trout.
Justin Upton has had seasons in which his OPS+ was 141, 137, 137, 136 and 133.
He's only 31 years old, so it's possible that he could join Ohtani in striking
some fear into opposing pitchers.
And of course Jo Adell is looming on the horizon ...
FIELD OF ANGELIC DREAMS? ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD, INFIELD AND ON THE
MOUND?
Did we just watch the most amazing and mysterious baseball game ever played on
July 13, 2019? If so, this came on a day in which every Angel wore number 45 in
honor of their lost teammate, Tyler Skaggs. In Mike Trout's first at-bat, he hit
a 454-foot homer. That's 45 forwards and backwards! The Angels scored 7 runs in
the first inning, the number of heavenly perfection. Tyler was 27, in his 7th
season in the majors, and his record was 7-7. But that's just the beginning. In
the Angels' first home game since Tyler passed away, pitchers Taylor Cole and
Felix Pena threw a
combined no-hitter. According to
STATS, it was the first combined no-no in California since July 13, 1991,
the day Tyler Skaggs was born. The Angels scored 13 runs, which
might seem unlucky, but not so. In this case, 7 and 13 go together perfectly,
because 7*13=91 and Tyler was born on 7/13/91. As Trout told reporters: "Tyler's
birthday is 7/13. Tomorrow. They'd tell you to rewrite this script to make it
more believable if you turned this in!" (And because the game started at 10pm
EST, by the time it ended, it was
Tyler's birthday for most of the world.) Tyler's mother Debbie threw out the
first pitch, and it was a perfect strike. We all know how rare that is. Cole and
Pena almost threw a perfect game, but faced 28 batters, one more than the
minimum. A tiny flaw? No, because it was Tyler's 28th birthday. "This is all for
him," Pena said in Spanish after the game. "I feel like we have an angel
watching over us." Did this wonderfully mysterious game just confirm that our
departed loved ones are watching over us, and that all is well with them? Trout
reflected everyone's amazement: "I'm speechless. This is the best way to honor
him."
Popular
hashtags included #goosebumps #wow #45 #Skaggs#45 and #RIP45.
THE MIKE TROUT WAR WATCH
Mike Trout, still just 31 years old, has already
passed 222 hall-of-famers in WAR! Most of them played two to three times
as many seasons as Trout. The numbers in parens are career WAR.
Mike Trout passed his 1st HOF centerfielder, "Foxy" Ned Hanlon (13.0), at age
21.
Mike Trout passed his 2nd HOF centerfielder, "Little Poison" Lloyd Waner
(24.1), at age 22.
Mike Trout passed his 3rd HOF centerfielder, Lewis "Hack" Wilson (38.8), at age
24.
Mike Trout passed his 4th HOF centerfielder, "The Kentucky Colonel" Earle Combs
(42.5), at age 24.
Mike Trout passed his 5th HOF centerfielder, "Sir" Hugh Duffy (42.9), at age 24.
Mike Trout passed his 6th HOF centerfielder, Edd Roush (45.2), at age 24.
Mike Trout passed his 7th HOF centerfielder, Earl "The Rock" Averill (48.0), at
age 24.
Mike Trout passed his 8th HOF centerfielder, Larry Doby (49.5), at age 25.
Mike Trout passed his 9th HOF centerfielder, Kirby Puckett (50.9), at age 25.
Mike Trout passed his 10th HOF centerfielder, "Scoops" Max Carey (54.2), at age
25.
Mike Trout passed his 11th HOF centerfielder, "Sliding" Billy Hamilton (63.4),
at age 26.
Mike Trout passed his 12th HOF centerfielder, "The Tilden Flash" Richie Ashburn
(63.9), at age 26.
Mike Trout passed his 13th HOF centerfielder, Andre "The Hawk" Dawson (64.8), at
age 26.
Mike Trout passed his 14th HOF centerfielder, Donald "Duke" Snider (66.3), at
age 27.
Mike Trout passed his 15th HOF centerfielder, "Joltin'" Joe
DiMaggio (79.2), at age 31.
Mike Trout passed his 16th HOF centerfielder, Ken Griffey Jr.
(83.8), at age 31.
Mickey Mantle
(110.2) is the 17th HOF centerfielder and #20 in career WAR
Tris Speaker (133.9) is the 18th HOF centerfielder and #9 in career WAR
Ty Cobb (151.1) is the 19th HOF centerfielder and #6 in career WAR
Willie Mays (156.4) is the 20th HOF centerfielder and #5 in career WAR
Babe Ruth (182.4) is the all-time WARlord
Trout has already passed legends like Carlton Fisk, Carl
Hubbell, Ryne Sandberg, "Mr. Cub" Ernie Banks,
Don Drysdale, Duke Snider, Goose Goslin, Willie McCovey, "Bullet" Bob
Feller, "Home Run" Baker, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, Jackie Robinson, Harmon
Killebrew, Yogi Berra, Vladimir Guerrero, Rube Waddell, Hank Greenberg, Willie
Stargell, Whitey Ford, George Sisler, Bill Dickey, Joe Medwick, Bill Terry,
"Wee" Willie Keeler, Sandy Koufax, Dizzy Dean and Lefty Gomez.
Note: The ages below reflect Trout's age at the beginning of the season in
question. The WAR figures come from BaseballReference.com and seem to be
"refigured" from time to time, so that the career WAR of retired players can
change slightly. (But Trout's going to end up so far beyond most players that
teeny-tiny variations will prove insignificant in the end.) The WAR numbers cited here
are those in effect at the time Trout passed the player(s) in question. A plus
sign (+) indicates a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF). The names of
active players and other non-HOF players appear in italics. Players without a
plus sign are included arbitrarily for purposes of comparison. The figure in
parentheses is the number of years in the player's career.
If you want to see the baseball legends that Mike Trout has already passed, and
those he's about to zoom past in the near future, you may want to start at the
bottom of the list and scroll up.
KEY: (WAR ranking)
Player Name with a + for HOF (seasons played) Career WAR
(1)
Babe Ruth+ (22) 182.4 [HOF-266] Babe Ruth is the undisputed WAR LORD.
(2)
Walter Johnson+ (21) 164.3 [HOF-265]
(3)
Cy Young+ (22) 163.6 [HOF-264]
(4)
Barry Bonds (22) 162.8 Bonds is not in the HOF and has PED issues.
(5)
Willie Mays+ (22) 156.4 [HOF-263] the 20th HOF centerfielder.
(6)
Ty Cobb+ (24) 151.1 [HOF-262] the 19th HOF centerfielder.
(7)
Hank Aaron+ (23) 142.8 [HOF-261]
(8)
Roger Clemens (24) 139.2 Clemens is not in the HOF and has PED issues.
(9)
Tris Speaker+ (22) 133.9 [HOF-260] the 18th HOF centerfielder.
(10)
Honus Wagner+ (21) 130.8 [HOF-259]
(11)
Stan Musial+ (22) 128.1 [HOF-258] would be top 10 if not for cheaters.
(12)
Rogers Hornsby+ (23) 127.0 [HOF-257]
(13)
Eddie Collins+ (25) 123.8 [HOF-256]
(14)
Ted Williams+ (19) 123.1 [HOF-255] second only to Ruth in WAR/162.
(15)
Grover Pete Alexander+ (20) 118.9 [HOF-254]
(16)
Alex Rodriguez (22) 117.8 Rodriguez is not in the HOF and has PED issues.
(17)
Kid Nichols+ (15) 116.1 [HOF-253]
(18)
Lou Gehrig+ (17) 112.4 [HOF-252] top 15 if not for cheaters.
(19)
Rickey Henderson+ (25) 110.8 [HOF-251]
(20)
Mickey Mantle+ (18) 110.2 [HOF-250] the 17th HOF centerfielder.
(21)
Tom Seaver+ (20) 109.9 [HOF-249]
(22)
Mel Ott+ (22) 107.8 [HOF-248]
(23)
Nap Lajoie+ (21) 107.4 [HOF-247] top 20 if not for cheaters.
(24)
Frank Robinson+ (21) 107.2 [HOF-246]
(25)
Lefty Grove+ (17) 107.0 [HOF-245]
(26)
Greg Maddox+ (23) 106.6 [HOF-244]
(27)
Mike Schmidt+ (18) 106.5 [HOF-243]
(28)
Christy Mathewson+ (17) 103.9 [HOF-242] top 25 if not for cheaters.
(29)
Albert Pujols (22) 101.5 was Mike
Trout's longtime teammate.
(30)
Randy Johnson+ (22) 101.1 [HOF-241]
(31)
Joe Morgan+ (22) 100.4 [HOF-240]
(32)
Warren Spahn+ (21) 100.0 [HOF-239]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The players above constitute the ultra-elite 100-WAR Club.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(33)
Jimmie Foxx+ (20) 96.6 [HOF-238]
(34)
Eddie Mathews+ (17) 96.6 [HOF-237]
(35)
Carl Yastrzemski+ (23) 96.4 [HOF-236]
(36)
Phil Niekro+ (24) 95.9 [HOF-235]
(37)
Cal Ripken+ (21) 95.9 [HOF-234]
(38) Adrian Beltre (21) 95.6 seems like a sure
Hall-of-Famer.
(39)
Roberto Clemente+ (18) 94.5 [HOF-233]
(40)
Cap Anson+ (27) 94.4 [HOF-232]
(41)
Bert Blyleven+ (22) 94.4 [HOF-231]
(42)
Al Kaline+ (22) 92.8 [HOF-230]
(43)
Wade Boggs+ (18) 91.1 [HOF-229] here we reach the top 30 hitters of all time!
(44)
Eddie Plank+ (17) 91.0 [HOF-228]
(45)
Steve Carlton+ (24) 90.2 [HOF-227]
(46)
Gaylord Perry+ (22) 90.0 [HOF-226]
(47)
Bob Gibson+ (17) 89.1 [HOF-225]
(48)
George Brett+ (21) 88.4 [HOF-224]
(49)
Tim Keefe+ (14) 86.9 [HOF-223]
(50) Robin Roberts+ (19) 86.2 [HOF-222]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At this point Mike Trout has joined the top 50 players of all time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Trout (12) age 31 career WAR 85.3 has now passed
211 hall-of-famers!
Chipper Jones+ (19) 85.3 [HOF-221]
George Davis+ (20) 84.5 [HOF-220]
Roger Connor+ (18) 84.3 [HOF-219]
Fergie Jenkins+ (19) 84.2 [HOF-218]
Pedro Martinez+ (18) 83.9 [HOF-217]
Charlie Gehringer+ (19) 83.8 [HOF-216]
Ken Griffey Jr.+ (22) 83.8 [HOF-215] Trout passes his 16th HOF centerfielder.
John Clarkson+ (12) 83.2 [HOF-214]
Mike Mussina+ (18) 82.8 [HOF-213]
Nolan Ryan+ (27) 81.3 [HOF-212]
Rod Carew+ (19) 81.2 [HOF-211]
Tom Glavine+ (22) 80.7 [HOF-210]
Jeff Bagwell+ (15) 79.9 [HOF-209]
Pete Rose (24) 79.7 Rose is not in the HOF, but absolutely should be.
Curt Schilling (20) 79.5 Schilling is not in the HOF, but should be.
Joe DiMaggio+ (13) 79.2 [HOF-208] Trout passes his 15th HOF centerfielder.
Dan Brouthers+ (19) 78.7 [HOF-207]
Brooks Robinson+ (23) 78.4 [HOF-206]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At this point Mike Trout has joined the top 75 players of all time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Trout (10) age 29 career WAR 77.8 has now passed
205 hall-of-famers!
Robin Yount+ (20) 77.3 [HOF-205]
Ozzie Smith+ (19) 76.9 [HOF-204]
Bobby Wallace+ (25) 76.2 [HOF-203]
Jim McCormick (10) 76.2 McCormick is not in the HOF but should be.
Paul Molitor+ (21) 75.7 [HOF-202]
Mike Trout (9) age 28 career WAR 75.6 has now passed
201 hall-of-famers!
Old Hoss Radbourn+ (12) 75.4 [HOF-2-1]
Bill Dahlen (21) 75.4 "Bad" Bill Dahlen is not in the HOF but should be.
Sam Crawford+ (19) 75.3 [HOF-200]
Johnny Bench+ (17) 75.2 [HOF-199]
Lou Whitaker (19) 75.1 Whitaker is not in the HOF but deserves
consideration.
Luke Appling+ (20) 74.5 [HOF-198]
Reggie Jackson+ (21) 74.0 [HOF-197]
Frank Thomas+ (19) 73.9 [HOF-196]
Mike Trout (8) age 27 career WAR 73.5 has now passed
194 hall-of-famers!
Pud Galvin+ (15) 73.5 [HOF-195]
Arky Vaughan+ (14) 72.9 [HOF-194] later adjusted to 78.0 WAR
Jim Thome+ (22) 72.9 [HOF-193]
Paul Waner+ (20) 72.8 [HOF-192]
Larry Walker (17) 72.7 [HOF-191]
Derek Jeter+ (20) 72.4 [HOF-190]
Harry Heilmann+ (17) 72.2 [HOF-189]
Rafael Palmeiro (20) 71.9 Palmeiro is not in the HOF and has PED issues.
Bobby Grich (17) 71.1 Grich is not in the HOF but deserves
consideration.
Johnny Mize+ (15) 70.9 [HOF-188]
Alan Trammell+ (20) 70.7 [HOF-187]
Ted Lyons+ (21) 70.7 [HOF-186]
Ron Santo+ (15) 70.5 [HOF-185]
Frankie Frisch+ (19) 70.4 [HOF-184]
Barry Larkin+ (19) 70.4 [HOF-183]
Scott Rolen (17) 70.2 Rolen is not in the HOF but deserves
consideration.
Gary Carter+ (19) 70.1 [HOF-182]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The average career WAR of a HOF centerfielder is 70. The centerfielders
above this line are immortals: DiMaggio, Griffey, Mantle, Cobb, Mays.
Trout has also entered the top 100 for career WAR, faster
than any
player before him.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Miguel Cabrera (16) 69.8 Trout zooms past Miggy in 1/2 the
playing time.
Ed Delahanty+ (16) 69.7 [HOF-181]
Carlos Beltran (20) 69.6 Trout has only two more active players to
catch.
Tim Raines+ (23) 69.4 [HOF-180]
Tony Gwynn+ (20) 69.2 [HOF-179]
John Smoltz+ (21) 69.0 [HOF-178]
Robinson Cano (14) 68.9 Trout flashes past a still-productive superstar.
Red Ruffing+ (22) 68.9 [HOF-177]
Al Simmons+ (20) 68.8 [HOF-176]
Ivan Rodriguez+ (21) 68.7 [HOF-175]
Eddie Murray+ (21) 68.7 [HOF-174]
Carlton Fisk+ (24) 68.5 [HOF-173]
Jim Palmer+ (19) 68.4 [HOF-172]
Edgar Martinez+ (18) 68.4 [HOF-171]
Carl Hubbell+ (16) 68.3 [HOF-170]
Ryne Sandberg+ (16) 68.0 [HOF-169]
Fred Clarke+ (21) 67.9 [HOF-168]
Ernie Banks+ (19) 67.5 [HOF-167]
Don Drysdale+ (14) 67.1 [HOF-166]
Roberto Alomar+ (17) 67.1 [HOF-166]
Don Sutton+ (23) 66.7 [HOF-164]
Joe Cronin+ (20) 66.4 [HOF-163]
Duke Snider+ (18) 66.3 [HOF-162] Trout passes his 14th HOF centerfielder.
Pee Wee Reese+ (16) 66.3 [HOF-161]
Goose Goslin+ (18) 66.1 [HOF-160] Goslin slugged .500 with 1,612 RBI.
Amos Rusie+ (10) 65.8 [HOF-159]
Ed Walsh+ (14) 65.8 [HOF-158]
Craig Biggio+ (20) 65.5 [HOF-157]
Chase Utley (16) 65.4 Trout passes an active star in half the playing time.
Mike Trout (7) age 26 career WAR 65.3 has passed 156
hall-of-famers!
Andre Dawson+ (21) 64.8 [HOF-156] Trout passes his 13th HOF centerfielder.
Clayton Kershaw (11) 64.8 the greatest pitcher of his
generation.
Willie McCovey+ (22) 64.5 [HOF-155]
Roy Halladay+ (16) 64.3 [HOF-154]
Dave Winfield+ (22) 64.2 [HOF-153]
Vic Willis+ (13) 64.2 [HOF-152]
Richie Ashburn+ (15) 63.9 [HOF-151] Trout passes his 12th HOF centerfielder.
Red Faber+ (20) 63.9 [HOF-150]
Billy Williams+ (18) 63.7 [HOF-149]
Billy Hamilton+ (14) 63.4 [HOF-148] Trout passes his 11th HOF centerfielder.
Bob Feller+ (18) 63.4 [HOF-147]
Lou Boudreau+ (15) 63.0 [HOF-146]
Juan Marichal+ (16) 62.9 [HOF-145]
Home Run Baker+ (13) 62.8 [HOF-144]
Hal Newhouser+ (17) 62.5 [HOF-143]
Clark Griffith+ (21) 62.5 [HOF-142]
John Ward+ (17) 62.3 [HOF-141]
Mickey Welch+ (13) 62.3 [HOF-140]
Shoeless Joe Jackson (13) 62.2 one of the game's great
nicknames (170 OPS+).
Mark McGwire (16) 62.2
Dennis Eckersley (24) 62.0 [HOF-139]
Jackie Robinson+ (10) 61.4 [HOF-138] amazing WAR for a 10-year career.
Jake Beckley+ (20) 61.3 [HOF-137]
Stan Coveleski+ (14) 60.9 [HOF-136]
Early Wynn+ (23) 60.7 [HOF-135]
Harmon Killebrew+ (22) 60.4 [HOF-134]
Al Spalding+ (8) 60.3 [HOF-133]
Zack Wheat+ (19) 60.2 [HOF-132]
Dazzy Vance+ (16) 60.0 [HOF-131]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At 60 WAR, we are passing from one level of greatness to another, with
immortal
names
like Jackie Robinson, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Home Run Baker
and Al Simmons ahead.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jesse Burkett+ (16) 59.7 [HOF-130] Burkett hit .400 twice (140 OPS+).
Yogi Berra+ (19) 59.5 [HOF-129] Berra was a three-time MVP (125 OPS+).
Vladimir Guerrero+ (16) 59.4 [HOF-128]
Mike Piazza+ (16) 59.4 [HOF-127]
Jim Bunning+ (17) 59.4 [HOF-126]
Ichiro Suzuki (18) 59.3 Trout matches Ichiro's WAR in 1/3 the playing
time!
Joey Votto (12) 58.2 Trout passes Votto in
half the playing time (157 OPS+).
Rube Waddell+ (13) 57.9 [HOF-125]
Joe McGinnity+ (10) 57.9 [HOF-124]
Joe Torre+ (18) 57.6 [HOF-123]
Hank Greenberg+ (13) 57.5 [HOF-122] Greenberg slugged .605, sixth
all-time.
Willie Stargell+ (21) 57.5 [HOF-121] Stargell had 475 homers (147
OPS+).
Mordecia Brown+ (14) 57.4 [HOF-120]
Joe Gordon+ (11) 57.1 [HOF-119
Whitey Ford+ (16) 56.9 [HOF-118]
George Sisler+ (15) 56.3 [HOF-117] Sisler hit .400 twice.
Mariano Rivera+ (19) 56.2 [HOF-116]
Bill Dickey+ (17) 55.8 [HOF-115]
Eppa Rixey+ (21) 55.8 [HOF-114]
Luis Aparicio+ (18) 55.8 [HOF-113]
Joe Medwick+ (17) 55.6 [HOF-112]
Justin Verlander (13) 55.4
Enos Slaughter+ (19) 55.3 [HOF-111]
Mike Trout (6) age 25 career WAR 55.1 has already passed 110
hall-of-famers!
Ian Kinsler (12) 55.0 Trout surges past Kinsler in 1/2 the playing
time (110 OPS+).
Billy Herman+ (15) 54.7 [HOF-110]
Bill Terry+ (14) 54.2 [HOF-109]
Max Carey+ (20) 54.2 [HOF-108] Trout passes his 10th HOF centerfielder at age
25.
Wee Willie Keeler+ (19) 54.0 [HOF-107]
Tony Perez+ (23) 54.0 [HOF-106]
Joe Sewell+ (14) 53.7 [HOF-105]
Gabby Hartnett+ (20) 53.4 [HOF-104]
Joe Tinker+ (15) 53.2 [HOF-103]
Harry Hooper+ (17) 53.2 [HOF-102]
Jimmy Collins+ (14) 53.2 {HOF-101]
Elmer Flick+ (13) 53.2 [HOF-100]
Sam Rice+ (20) 52.8 [HOF-99] Trout passes a sometimes-centerfielder.
Cesar Cedeno (17) 52.7 Trout passes a great
centerfielder in 1/3 the playing time.
Burleigh Grimes+ (19) 52.7 [HOF-98]
Waite Hoyt+ (21) 52.6 [HOF-97]
Dustin Pedroia (12) 52.5 Trout passes an active star in half the
playing time.
Bid McPhee+ (18) 52.4 [HOF-96]
Mickey Cochrane+ (13) 52.1 [HOF-95]
Jim O'Rourke+ (23) 51.5 [HOF-94]
Bobby Doerr+ (14) 51.2 [HOF-93]
Kirby Puckett+ (12) 50.9 [HOF-92] Trout passes his 9th HOF centerfielder.
Joe Kelley+ (17) 50.5 [HOF-91]
Orlando Cepeda+ (17) 50.2 [HOF-90]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At 50 WAR, we see fewer questionable names, and increasing greatness.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tony Lazzeri+ (14) 49.9 [HOF-89]
Larry Doby+ (13) 49.5 [HOF-88] Trout passes his 8th HOF centerfielder at
age 25.
Ralph Kiner+ (10) 49.4 [HOF-87]
Nellie Fox+ (19) 48.9 [HOF-86]
Sandy Koufax (12) 48.9 [HOF-85]
Mike Trout (5) age 24 career WAR 48.5 has already passed 84
hall-of-famers!
Dave Bancroft+ (16) 48.5 [HOF-84]
Earl Averill+ (13) 48.0 [HOF-83,] Trout passes his 7th HOF centerfielder at
age 24.
Bob Lemon+ (15) 47.9 [HOF-82]
Johnny Evers+ (18) 47.8 [HOF-81]
Buck Ewing+ (18) 47.7 [HOF-80]
Jim Rice+ (16) 47.4 [HOF-79] Rice slugged .502 with 382 homers and 1,451 RBI.
Chief Bender+ (16) 47.3 [HOF-78]
Hoyt Wilhelm+ (21) 46.8 [HOF-77]
Kiki Cuyler+ (18) 46.7 [HOF-76]
Ernie Lombardi+ (17) 45.9 [HOF-75] Lombardi was a slugging catcher (126
OPS+).
Heinie Manush+ (17) 45.8 [HOF-74]
Dizzy Dean+ (12) 45.8 [HOF-73]
Frank Chance+ (17) 45.6 [HOF-72]
John McGraw+ (17) 45.6 [HOF-71] McGraw was a scrappy hitter (.334, 135 OPS+).
Deacon White+ (20) 45.5 [HOF-70]
Herb Pennock (22) 45.5 [HOF-69]
Lou Brock+ (19) 45.2 [HOF-68]
Edd Roush+ (18) 45.2 [HOF-67] Trout passes his 6th HOF centerfielder at
age 24.
Addie Joss+ (9) 44.7 [HOF-66]
King Kelly+ (16) 44.3 [HOF-65]
Sam Thompson+ (15) 44.3 [HOF-64] Consistent greatness (.331,
147 OPS+).
Travis Jackson+ (15) 44.0 [HOF-63]
Chuck Klein+ (17) 43.6 [HOF-62]
Jack Morris+ (18) 43.4 [HOF-61]
Hugh Duffy+ (17) 42.9 [HOF-60] Trout passes his 5th HOF centerfielder at
age 24.
Rabbit Maranville+ (23) 42.8 [HOF-59]
Earle Combs+ (12) 42.5 [HOF-58] Trout passes his 4th HOF centerfielder at
age 24.
Jack Chesbro+ (11) 42.5 [HOF-57]
Hughie Jennings+ (18) 42.2 [HOF-56]
Red Schoendienst+ (19) 42.2 [HOF-55]
Rich Gossage+ (22) 41.7 [HOF-54]
Roger Bresnahan+ (17) 41.0 [HOF-53]
Catfish Hunter+ (15) 40.9 [HOF-52]
Phil Rizzuto+ (13) 40.8 [HOF-51]
Hack Wilson+ (12) 38.8 [HOF-50] Trout passes his 3rd HOF centerfielder at
age 24.
Harold Baines+ (22) 38.7 [HOF-49]
Lefty Gomez (14) 38.4 [HOF-48]
Mike Trout (4) age 23 career WAR 38.1 at the end of the 2015
season
George Kell+ (15) 37.4 [HOF-47]
Roy Campanella+ (10) 37.0 [HOF-46] Campanella was a three-time MVP.
Bill Mazeroski+ (17) 36.2 [HOF-45]
Pie Traynor+ (17) 36.2 [HOF-44] Traynor hit .320 and was a
star at third base.
Candy Cummings+ (6) 36.2 [HOF-43]
John Ward+ (17) 35.6 [HOF-42]
Miller Huggins+ (13) 35.4 [HOF-41]
Jim Bottomley+ (16) 35.3 [HOF-40]
Jesse Haines+ (19) 32.7 [HOF-39]
Rube Marquard+ (18) 32.6 [HOF-38]
Ross Youngs+ (10) 32.2 [HOF-37]
Chick Hafey+ (13) 30.1 [HOF-36]
Rick Ferrell+ (18) 29.8 [HOF-35] Ferrell's brother Wes, a pitcher, was the
better hitter!
Lee Smith+ (18) 29.3 [HOF-34]
Mike Trout (3) age 22 career WAR 28.8 at the end of the 2014
season
Ray Schalk+ (18) 28.5 [HOF-33]
Freddie Lindstrom+ (13) 28.3 [HOF-32]
Trevor Hoffman+ (18) 27.9 [HOF-31]
Rollie Fingers+ (17) 25.6 [HOF-30]
High Pockets Kelly+ (16) 25.2 [HOF-29]
Lloyd Waner+ (18) 24.1 [HOF-28] Trout passes his second HOF centerfielder
at age 22.
Bruce Sutter+ (12) 24.1 [HOF-27]
George Wright+ (12) 23.2 [HOF-26] Wright was baseball's first superstar!
Monte Irvin+ (8) 21.3 [HOF-25]
Billy Southworth+ (13) 21.0 [HOF-24]
Mike Trout (2) age 21 career WAR 20.8 at the end of the 2013
season
Casey Stengel+ (14) 20.1 [HOF-23]
Ned Hanlon+ (13) 18.0 [HOF-22] Trout passes his first HOF centerfielder
at age 21.
Al Lopez+ (19) 16.6 [HOF-21]
Tommy McCarthy+ (13) 16.1 [HOF-20]
Bucky Harris+ (12) 15.1 [HOF-19]
Wilbert Robinson+ (17) 13.9 [HOF-18]
Mike Trout (1) age 20 career WAR 11.5 at the end of the his first
full season
Satchel Paige+ (6) 8.9 [HOF-17] Paige was a Negro League star.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The players below have WAR but were inducted as managers, umpires, executives
or
special cases.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charlie Comiskey+ (13) 7.7 [HOF-16]
Hank O'Day+ (7) 6.9 [HOF-15]
Connie Mack+ (11) 5.5 [HOF-14]
Leo Durocher+ (17) 5.1 [HOF-13]
Dick Williams+ (13) 3.5 [HOF-12]
Bill McKechnie+ (11) 3.3 [HOF-11]
Whitey Herzog+ (8) 2.9 [HOF-10]
Bobby Cox+ (2) .9 [HOF-9]
Harry Wright+ (7) .9 [HOF-8]
Branch Rickey+ (4) .5 [HOF-7]
Walter Alston+ (1) 0.0 [HOF-6]
Tony La Russa+ (6) -.7 [HOF-5]
Willard "Home Run" Brown+ (1) -.7 [HOF-4] Brown was a Negro League
star.
Jocko Conlan+ (2) -.8 [HOF-3]
Sparky Anderson+ (1) -1.2 [HOF-2]
Tommy Lasorda+ (3) -1.3 [HOF-1]
According to Ross Carey, the average Hall of Fame batter played 18 years and
collected 2,411 hits with 1,329 runs scored and 1,218 RBI, hitting .303 with an
on-base percentage (OBP) of .376, a slugging percentage (SP) of .461, an OPS of
.837 and an OPS+ of 128. I have focused on OPS+ in the "WAR chart" above,
because it helps us compare hitters from different eras. An OPS+ of 100 is an
average major league hitter, 128 is the typical HOF position player.
WAR Caveats
Is WAR a fair measure of a player's overall performance and value? While I think
it's the best measure we currently have, in my opinion it needs more "tuning."
It seems rather obvious that WAR undervalues the overall contributions of
catchers. For instance, Johnny Bench had a much bigger impact on the game than
some of the players above him in WAR and WAR7.
I also think WAR undervalues RBI. It seems fashionable these days to pooh-pooh
RBI, but I wonder how many baseball managers would agree. Some of the great RBI
men seem undervalued by WAR: for instance Bench's teammate Tony Perez, who drove
in 1,652 runs and was called "Mr. Clutch" for consistently producing when the
pressure was on. As Willie Stargell once noted, no opponent wanted to see Perez
striding to the plate when the game was on the line. Mike Trout's teammate
Albert Pujols in his twilight years is another good example. Although his other
stats are down and his WAR is barely budging, Pujols continues to drive in 80 to
100 runs per year. Bill James has pointed out that WAR doesn't take "context"
into account, using the example of Jose Altuve and Aaron Judge having nearly
identical WAR in 2017 when Altuve was much more productive in pressure
situations. Other notable clutch performers who may be undervalued by WAR
include Tony Gwynn, Roberto Clemente, Jackie Robinson, Yogi Berra, Reggie
Jackson, Al Simmons, Pete Rose, Vladimir Guerrero, Derek Jeter, Manny Ramirez,
Edgar Martinez and David Ortiz.
"Clutch" pitchers who may be undervalued by WAR include
Lefty Gomez, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Whitey Ford, Mickey Lolich, Mariano
Rivera, John Smoltz, Orel Hershiser, Jack Morris, Madison Bumgarner, Curt
Schilling and Andy Pettitte. Oh, and of course Babe Ruth!
Also, I think relievers need to be evaluated on a WAR per inning or WAR per
at-bat basis.
Still, all-in-all, WAR seems like the best measure we have of a player's overall
performance and value.
Mike Trout's WAR Path
When Mike Trout reached 52.3 WAR in his age 25 season, he became the all-time
Angels WARrior by passing pitcher Charles Finley, who amassed 52.2 WAR as an
Angel in 14 seasons from 1986-1999. Trout had already passed all Angels position
players, including Vladimir Guerrero, Garrett Anderson, Tim Salmon, Jim Fregosi,
Brian Downing, Rod Carew and Bobby Grich. Some of them did accumulate
substantial WAR with other teams.
In 2018 Trout was on pace for 12+ WAR before suffering two injuries. The only
position players with 12 or more WAR in a single season are Babe Ruth (three
times), Rogers Hornsby (once) and Carl Yastrzemski (once). Early in 2019, Trout
has been on pace for a 16-WAR season, which has never been done by a position
player. Ruth's highest single-season WAR was 14.1 in 1923. Thus Trout has been
breathing rarified air. If he can avoid missing games due to injuries, Trout
seems likely to join the exclusive 12-WAR club.
Babe Ruth is the all-time leader in WAR per 162 games. Trout is second by a
considerable margin over third place. The all-time leaders in WAR per 162 games
are Ruth (around 10.1 not including pitching), Trout (9.7 and rising), Rogers
Hornsby (9.3), Ted Williams (9.2), Barry Bonds (8.9), Lou Gehrig (8.7), Willie
Mays (8.1), Honus Wagner (8.0), Ty Cobb (7.9), Tris Speaker (7.8), Joe DiMaggio
(7.8), Mickey Mantle (7.6), Shoeless Joe Jackson (7.4), Mike Schmidt (7.2),
Jimmie Foxx (7.1), Hank Greenberg (7.1), and Hank Aaron (7.0). These are
superstars who played at an MVP level for their entire careers. To see an
expanded list please click here:
Baseball's All-Time Leaders in WAR per Season.
If we exclude the "steroid monsters, over the last 50 years (1969-2018) there
have only been ten seasons with ten or more WAR. Trout has three of them, and
might have had a fourth in 2017 if he hadn't been injured. When we consider the
greatness of Trout's modern peers who never had a single ten-WAR season, his
magnificence becomes all the clearer. They include Hank Aaron, Johnny Bench,
George Brett, Miguel Cabrera, Rod Carew, Roberto Clemente, Ken Griffey Jr.,
Rickey Henderson, Reggie Jackson, Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones, Paul Molitor,
Albert Pujols, Frank Robinson, Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt, Jim Thome, Joey Votto,
Adrian Beltre, Robinson Cano, J. D. Martinez and Giancarlo Stanton. According to
WAR, Trout has already had three seasons better than any of their best seasons!
How good is Mike Trout, really? In his best five seasons, he accumulated 49.6
WAR, or ten WAR per season if we round up. That's more WAR than the following
hall-of-famers accumulated in their entire careers:
Ralph Kiner, Nellie Fox, Dave Bancroft, Earl Averill, Johnny Evers, Jim Rice,
Buck Ewing, Kiki Cuyler, Ernie Lombardi, Heinie Manush, Frank Chance, Deacon
White, Lou Brock, Edd Roush, Sam Thompson, Travis Jackson, Chuck Klein, King
Kelly, Hugh Duffy, Rabbit Maranville, Earle Combs, Phil Rizzuto, Hack Wilson,
George Kell, Jim Bottomley, Roy Campanella, Chick Hafey, Rick Ferrell, Ray
Schalk, Freddie Lindstrom, and others.
Here are baseball immortals whose career WAR Trout passed in around a third the
playing time: Lloyd Waner, Pie Traynor, "Wee" Willie Keeler, Joe Medwick, Harmon
Killebrew, Yogi Berra, Max Carey, Bill Dickey, Gabby Hartnett, Enos Slaughter,
Orlando Cepeda, Tony Perez, Willie Stargell, Luis Aparicio, and Sam Rice. And
it's hard to find hall-of-famers that Trout hasn't passed in half the playing
time. Only a select group of the all-time greats averaged five WAR per season
for their careers (see the hyperlink above. Trout has been averaging close to
ten WAR per year, while trending upward. So it's no surprise that he's been
zooming past HOFers at warp speed.
If Mike Trout has a typical Mike Trout season in 2019, he will pass the
following players in career WAR: Willie McCovey (22 seasons), Reggie Smith (17),
Andre Dawson (21), Chase Utley (16), Craig Biggio (20), Willie Randolph (18),
Goose Goslin (18), Duke Snider (18), Pee Wee Reese (16), Joe Cronin (20), Ernie
Banks (19), Fred Clarke (21), Ryne Sandberg (16), Graig Nettles (22), Carlton
Fisk (24), Red Ruffing (22), Ivan Rodriguez (21), Eddie Murray (21), Al Simmons
(20), Tony Gwynn (20), Harry Heilmann (17), Derek Jeter (20), Paul Waner (20),
Frank Thomas (19), and Reggie Jackson (21). The common thread? They all played
two to three times as many seasons as Trout.
WAR7
Now, let's look for confirmation elsewhere. According to Jay Jaffe's Hall of
Fame Monitor, using WAR7 to compare players by their seven most productive
seasons, Mike Trout has already passed 17 of the 20 centerfielders enshrined in
the HOF, and amazingly he did it before completing his seventh full season.
Trout recently blasted past Duke Snider, Ken Griffey Jr., Joltin' Joe DiMaggio
and Tris Speaker. Now the only centerfielders competitive with the
still-improving Trout are three immortals: Mays, Cobb and Mantle. But they can't
improve their standings, while Trout can. Barring injuries, Trout seems destined
to pass Mantle in WAR7 with one more Troutian season. It also seems possible —
perhaps even likely — that Trout will surpass all the
immortal center fielders in career WAR. Furthermore, because center is
the "highest output" position for WAR, if Trout passes center's "Fab Four" there
will only be two position players left ahead of him: Bonds and Ruth. And they
should both have asterisks beside their names: Bonds because he cheated to the
extent that his freakin' head and feet grew larger, Ruth because he had a
baseball field tailored to help him hit homers by the bushel (i.e., the famous
"house that Ruth built"). On the other hand, Trout appears to be clean and is
hitting in a pitcher's park without a murderers' row behind him.
According to WAR7, Mike Trout is already one of the top 13 position players of
all time. The only position players with higher WAR7s than Trout (63.8) are Stan
Musial (64.1), Eddie Collins (64.2), Alex Rodriguez (64.3), Mickey Mantle
(64.8), Honus Wagner (65.4), Lou Gehrig (67.7), Ty Cobb (69.2), Ted Williams
(69.2), Barry Bonds (72.7), Rogers Hornsby (73.5), Willie Mays (73.7), and Babe
Ruth (84.7). But if Trout keeps having 9+ WAR seasons, his WAR7 will continue to
rise. If he stays healthy and simply replaces his two lowest WAR seasons with
typical Troutian 10-WAR seasons, he'll be in the top five. To pass Mays for
second he'll need to average 10.53 WAR for seven years. To pass Ruth he'll need
to best 12.1 WAR for seven years.
WAR5
WAR5 works like WAR7 and helps us find the very highest extended peaks. In this
case we are looking at consecutive years. Who were the players who were
consistently the greatest for five years running?
Babe Ruth (1920-1924) 56.9 WAR
Willie Mays (1962-1966) 52.3 WAR
Mike Trout (2015-2019) 51.3 WAR (est'd without injuries)
Barry Bonds (2000-2004) 51.1 WAR
Roger Hornsby (1921-1925) 49.9 WAR
Mike Trout (2012-2016) 47.8 WAR (actual)
Mickey Mantle (1954-1958) 47.7 WAR
Joe Morgan (1972-1976) 47.7 WAR
Lou Gehrig (1927-1931) 47.2 WAR
Stan Musial (1948-1952) 44.7 WAR
Albert Pujols (2005-2009) 44.5 WAR
Hank Aaron (1959-1963) 43.6 WAR
Carl Yastrzemski (1966-1970) 43.4 WAR
Alex Rodriguez (2000-2004) 43.4 WAR
Jimmie Foxx (1932-1936) 42.9 WAR
Ted Williams (1946-1950) 42.3 WAR
Jackie Robinson (1949-1953) 42.2 WAR
Wade Boggs (1985-1989) 42.0 WAR
Ron Santo (1963-1967) 41.9 WAR
Mike Schmidt (1974-1978) 40.3 WAR
Roberto Clemente (1965-1969) 39.8 WAR
According to WAR5, or perhaps we should call it cWAR5 for "consecutive WAR,"
Mike Trout has already had one of the five highest peaks in baseball history.
But if he hadn't been injured in 2017, and had performed as consistently as he
always does, Trout would be in third place, above a steroid-infused Bobby Bonds.
This list also demonstrates how very good Joe Morgan, Jackie Robinson, Wade
Boggs, Ron Santo and Roberto Clemente were. We don't always hear their names
mentioned with the Musials and Aarons and Schmidts, but they deserve their day
in the sun. According to cWAR5, they were top 20 players in their primes. And
Joe Morgan in his prime was in the same category as Mickey Mantle and Lou
Gehrig.
Runs
Only all-time greats have lead all MLB in runs for a decade:
1900s: Honus Wagner 1014 runs
1910s: Ty Cobb 1049 runs
1920s: Babe Ruth 1365 runs
1930s: Lou Gehrig 1257 runs (in 9 seasons)
1940s: Ted Williams 951 runs (in 7 seasons)
1950s: Mickey Mantle 994 runs
1960s: Hank Aaron 1091 runs
1970s: Pete Rose 1068 runs
1980s: Rickey Henderson 1122 runs
1990s: Barry Bonds 1091 runs
2000s: Alex Rodriguez 1190 runs
2010s: Mike Trout, 878 runs (in 8.5 seasons)
Mike Trout is the youngest player to lead all MLB in runs for a decade. He is
trailed in the 2010s by Ian Kinsler (877), Andrew McCutchen (868), and Joey
Votto (824).
Other Confirmations
How has Trout done so much, so soon? As we shall see, it's because he's the
Secretariat of the baseball derby. Trump charged out of the gates as a yearling
and has kept gaining speed, leaving all competitors in his dust.
To be sure, let's do the "stat math" ... but first, let's consider what some of
his peers recently said about Mike Trout:
When Jack Buck asked Bryce Harper if he thought Mike Trout is the best player in
the game, Harper responded: "If you don't, then you're not watching." In other
words, DUH!
"He has been the best player since he's been in the majors, and he's never not
been the best player," says Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke. "Probably why he's so
good is that he's up there with the best in every part of the game. The thing
that makes him even better is I don't know if he's had any slumps. He's always
the best player. Even at his worst, he's still one of the best."
NOTE: Greinke is correct, because Trout has never gone more than two consecutive
games without getting on base! He seems to be slump-proof.
"Mike Trout's the best player in baseball," according to Reds first baseman Joey
Votto. "He's the best at everything. His only weakness—not even a weakness—his
only average to above-average tool is his arm, and that's me nitpicking
[because] he's still throwing guys out. He still has an accurate arm. He's the
best hitter in the game. He’s in the conversation for the best baserunner. He
plays center field and might win his first Gold Glove this year. He’s just
clearly been the best for a long time; there's never been a stretch of time
where you've had doubts about that. There was a little bit of time where I
thought I could be the best hitter in the game. And then he came along and let
me know, 'I'm so sorry about that!'"
NOTE: At the time I wrote this, Joey Votto was in the all-time top 20 for OPS+
at 157, ahead of Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Joe DiMaggio, Mel Ott, Honus Wagner,
Frank Robinson, Manny Ramirez, Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols. Thus, Votto
would have a strong claim to be the best hitter of his generation ... except
that Trout is in the stratosphere at 174 and still climbing. Trout is currently
nestled two ticks above Mickey Mantle at 172 and just one tick below Rogers
Hornsby at 175 in the OPS+ standings. So what Votto said above makes perfect
sense. Unless you can challenge Mantle and Hornsby, you're not in Mike Trout
territory, even
though Votto has exceeded all his other contemporaries. And Trout's OPS+
keeps going up. As I updated this article close to the end of the 2018 season,
Trout's OPS+ was 202. Over the last 20 years, since the advent of six-inning
starters and group relief with seemingly everyone throwing 95+ mph heat, there
has only been one player with a 200 OPS+ season. And that player is Mike Trout.
(I did subtract the "steroid monsters" from the equation.)
Dale Murphy, a two-time NL MVP, says Mike Trout is the best player he's seen:
"Mike Schmidt was among the best players of my era. So was Pete Rose (the
all-time hits leader deserves a tip of the cap). So was Keith Hernandez (maybe
the most clutch hitter I ever played against). So were a lot of other guys. And
Mike Trout is better than all of them. With Trout, all things are not equal. He
is ahead of everybody."
Okay, now on to the "stat math" ...
What makes Mike Trout so damn good? Well, he is truly a five-tool player. He
hits for power, with a career slugging percentage of .573 that tops Stan Musial,
Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron. He hits for average and gets on base
at a rate that rose to an utterly stellar .460 in 2018. In effect, he's getting
on base nearly every other at-bat. As for speed, according to Statcast, Trout is
faster than Dee Gordon, Starling Marte, Lorenzo Cain, Jose Altuve, Mookie Betts
and Jose Ramirez on the basepaths. And Trout is one of the most successful base
stealers ever in terms of efficiency, ranking ninth all-time at 84.8%. That's
better than Rickey Henderson, Lou Brock, Billy Hamilton, Ty Cobb, Tim Raines and
Mookie Betts. And Trout continues to improve as a base stealer: in 2018 he was
successful 92.3% of the time. Furthermore, Trout is a genius at taking extra
bases, with a success rate of 58% compared to a MLB average of only 40%.
Defensively, Trout has been playing gold-glove-level in center field and since
2009 has led all MLB in "robberies" of home runs.
Only three players in MLB history have had six seasons with five WAR or higher
by age 25. One is Mike Trout. The other two are Ty Cobb and Mickey Mantle. They
also rank 1-2-3 in cumulative WAR by age 24 and age 25.
In 2018, Mike Trout reached five WAR in a third of a season, after only 57
games. That's a staggering thought because Trout accomplished in 57 games what a
typical MLB all-star achieves in a full season! Another way to view this is that
Trout was worth three normal all-stars, according to WAR. After one-third of the
2018 season, Trout's WAR was double that of superstars like Jose Altuve, Freddie
Freeman, Carlos Correa, J. D. Martinez, Joey Votto, Andrew Benintendi and George
Springer. He had three times the WAR of studs like Manny Machado, Paul
Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Buster Posey, Kris Bryant, Eric Hosmer and Matt
Kemp. Hell, he had four times the WAR of Giancarlo Stanton and Didi Gregorious.
The only player within hailing distance of Trout was Mookie Betts, having his
best year.
In the senior league the closest player to Trout in terms of consistent
superiority is probably Nolan Arendo, but Arenado is older than Trout and has
half his career WAR. Ditto for Freddie Freeman. Bryce Harper has played the same
number of full seasons as Trout and has less than half his career WAR. Harper
has had one Troutian season in seven tries, while Trout is seven for seven. Joey
Votto now trails Trout in career WAR despite being eight years older. Paul
Goldschmidt is 30 and has averaged around half Trout's WAR per season. And so it
goes.
It's hard not to conclude that Joey Votto, Bryce Harper and Zack Greinke are
correct: Mike Trout is clearly the best baseball player in the world today.
Much was made about the Manny Machado trade to the Dodgers. One expert called it
the biggest bat being dealt at mid-season, ever. Others compared it to the Manny
Ramirez trade, also to the Dodgers. But according to WAR, Mike Trout is worth
two Manny Machados and another starter. At the time Ramirez was traded to the
Dodgers he had 2.5 WAR, while around that point in the 2018 season Trout had 7.5
WAR, so Trout would have been worth three Manny Ramirezes. Or we could trade
Trout for both Mannys and a third all-star!
Here's another amazing stat: according to Fangraphs, by the middle of June 2018
ten teams were trailing Mike Trout
in fWAR. So according to Fangraphs, Mike Trout was outperforming ten entire MLB
rosters by himself. That's a
freakin' third of major league
teams!
According to WAR, Mike Trout could be traded for the following Astros: Carlos
Correa, George Springer, Josh Reddick and Evan Gattis.
According to WAR, Mike Trout could be traded for the following Red Sox: Rick
Porcello, Xander Bogaerts, Mitch Moreland, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Hanley
Ramirez.
According to WAR, Mike Trout could be traded for the following Yankees:
Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez, Gleyber Torres, Miguel Adujar and Greg Bird.
According to WAR, Mike Trout could be traded for up to six of the following
all-stars: Manny Machado, Buster Posey, Nelson Cruz, Matt Kemp, Kris Bryant,
Michael Brantley, Yadier Molina and Salvador Perez.
According to Fangraphs' WRC+, a measure of the weighted runs created by a
player, Trout's career average of 171 already ranks sixth all-time, trailing
only Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Rogers Hornsby and Barry Bonds.
Trout's BABIP (.355) would put him fourth in the Hall of Fame behind only Cobb,
Hornsby and Rod Carew.
Trout's career OPS (.990) puts him ahead of every centerfielder who ever played,
followed by DiMaggio, Mantle, Cobb, Mays and Hack Wilson.
Trout's career OPS+ (175) puts him ahead of every centerfielder who ever played,
followed by Mantle, Cobb, Pete Browning, Lip Pike and Tris Speaker.
Trout's career slugging percentage (.573) would put him eighth in the Hall of
Fame, and ahead of every centerfielder other than DiMaggio, who's just a few
ticks ahead (.579) and likely to fall behind soon.
Trout's on-base percentage (.416) would put him fifth among Hall of Fame
centerfielders, behind only Cobb, Speaker, Mantle and Billy Hamilton. But
Trout's OBP has been climbing and in 2018 reached .460. The only HOFers with
career OBPs above .450 are Ted Williams, the Bambino, John McGraw and Billy
Hamilton. It seems possible that Trout could join that select club, and pass all
centerfielders in career OBP. But I doubt that anyone will ever challenge Teddy
Ballgame's incomprehensible .482 record. He came damn close to getting on base
every other at-bat for his entire career!
According to Fangraphs and Baseball Reference's Hall of Fame Stats, if the world
stopped today this is how Mike Trout would rank among the HOF center fielders:
#1 in OPS, OPS+, ISO, wRC+, wGDP and UBR; #2 in slugging, BABIP, WPA, WPA/LI,
REW and RE24; #5 in OBP and BsR; #7 in wOBA.
How good is Mike Trout? Despite standing 6-2 and weighing 235 pounds, in 2018 he
was MLB's most efficient base stealer with 20 or more steals, at 92.3% (24
steals in 26 attempts). For his career Trout's been successful 85% of the time,
so 2018 was no fluke and he continues to improve. And he's legitimately fast,
since his average sprint speed of 29.2 feet per second is the same as Dee
Gordon's.
How good is Mike Trout, really? He was the senior member of the 2018 all-star
team, with seven selections. But he was in the middle of his age 26 season. The
only other players with seven all-star selections by age 26 were Mickey Mantle,
Johnny Bench, Ken Griffey Jr., Ivan Rodriguez and Al Kaline.
When USA Today conducted a "For The Win" poll that allowed fans to vote
for the best players at each position, there was only one position with a single
candidate: Mike Trout in centerfield. Apparently the pollsters didn't want fans
to embarrass themselves in public by voting for anyone else!
As one analyst observed: "Trout simply has no peers in the game
today." No peers. None. Nada. Zip. Perhaps even more amazingly, Trout has very
few peers in the past, and he could eclipse them all. We are seeing something
completely unprecedented: a player with a chance to be better than Mickey
Mantle, better than Ty Cobb, even better than Babe Ruth ... if he can keep it
up. Trout is much faster than Ruth, much stronger than Cobb, and (as far as we
know) much cleaner-and healthier-living than Mantle. While Trout could slow
down, there is also the possibility that he may continue to improve (which seems
to be the case so far).
But what about active players who are still substantially ahead of Trout in WAR?
Well, most of them have played two to three times longer than Trout and don't
come close in average WAR per season. The closest anyone active comes to Trout's
average annual WAR is the greatest pitcher of his generation, Clayton Kershaw,
at 6.5 and still going strong when not injured. But according to average WAR,
Trout is 50% better and should pass Kershaw in 2019. The non-pitcher closest to
Trout is his teammate Albert Pujols, at 5.8 average WAR, but now trending
slightly negative on the downside of his career. If they both keep up their
current paces, Trout should pass Pujols in around five years. At that point
Trout would have done in 12 years what Pujols did in around 20, depending on how
long he hangs around. So it really isn't close and it seems the only thing that
could prevent Trout from passing all his peers by substantial margins would be
"falling off a cliff" either health-wise or otherwise. For instance, he might
get bored with being so great and pull a reverse Michael Jordan by heading off
for the NBA!
To understand how much more WAR he's been producing than the average baseball
star (while that may sound like an oxymoron, Trout really does make other stars
seem average by comparison), please consider that in 2017, despite missing
nearly nearly a third of the season due to injuries, when he returned to action
Trout was still ahead of studs like Butch Posey, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and
Cody Bellinger. And within a few weeks Trout was catching and passing
superstars having outstanding seasons, like Bryce Harper, Mookie Betts,
Carlos Correa, Jose Ramirez, Charlie Blackmon, Paul Goldschmidt, Anthony Rendon
and Justin Turner. Are you impressed with the power of Giancarlo Stanton and
Aaron Judge? Well, Trout was in a virtual three-way tie with them for MLB's
highest slugging percentage, with .630. Unbelievably, despite playing only 114
games, Trout had more offensive WAR than Judge and Stanton! (BTW, Judge and
Trout are the same age. At the time Judge had 7.6 career WAR and Trout had 55.1.
Are they really comparable?)
Do you think Bryce Harper will be one of the all-time greats? Well, Trout has
more than double Harper's career WAR. Do you think Jose Altuve is the second
coming of Joe Morgan? Well maybe, but Trout seems to be the second coming
of Mickey Mantle ... or perhaps even better. Altuve is older than Trout, has
roughly half his career WAR and is falling further behind every season. Ditto
for Freddie Freeman, Paul Goldschmidt, Buster Posey, et al.
Thus it's really not that close. Yes, Bryce Harper and Joey Votto are great
players. But, no, they are not close to Mike Trout in average WAR per season
played. Miguel Cabrera and
Albert Pujols are not that close. Do you think A-Rod is a great player,
except that he cheated? Well, guess again, because A-Rod's steroid-infused OPS+
of 140 still falls far short of Trout's 174, as does Giancarlo Stanton's
career OPS+ of 146. The only players who rival Trout's career OPS+ of 174 are
Mickey Mantle, Rogers Hornsby, Lou Gehrig, Barry Bonds, Ted Williams and Babe
Ruth. That's some club! However, Trout's OPS+ continues to climb. If he keeps
getting better, his only rival will be Ruth. But Trout started accumulating
major WAR at age 20, while Ruth had his first huge WAR season at age 24. So
Trout has a big head start. Unless Trout slows down, it seems he has the
advantage over everyone, including the Bambino!
There has recently been considerable noise out of Boston that Mookie Betts is
ready to wrest the crown and scepter from Mike Trout's hands. But Betts is just
a year younger than Trout, has roughly half Trout's career WAR, and has a
cumulative OPS+ of 134, which is 41 points below Trout's. Betts had one
MVP-level season with 9.7 WAR before his admittedly great 2018 season. Trout has
that sort of season routinely, regular as clockwork. So Betts has a lot of
makeup work to do. And it's hard to catch up with someone who keeps churning out
WAR seasons for the ages.
Or take the "20-20 Club" of players with 20 homers and 20 stolen bases in the
same season. In 2017, Trout reached the club in 98 games! The great Willie Mays
did it six times in his storied career. Trout has done it five times already and
seems poised to rack up more, with one of the best stolen base success rates in
baseball history and the power to club 30 to 40 homers per year, if not more.
Or how about the "Dynamic Club" of players with the all-time highest WAR7 (i.e.,
add the seven best WAR seasons together)? These are the ten "highest octane"
players who had the very highest peaks: Babe Ruth (84.7), Willie Mays (73.7),
Rogers Hornsby (73.5), Barry Bonds (72.7), Ted Williams (69.2), Ty Cobb (69.2),
Lou Gehrig (67.7), Honus Wagner (65.4), Mickey Mantle (64.8) and Eddie Collins
(64.3). Right now Trout is just behind Collins at 63.8, but that includes two
years with substantial injury time that are likely to be replaced, raising Trout
higher in the WAR7 rankings. While Ruth may be out of reach at 12.1 WAR per
season, it's not hard to imagine Trout challenging Mays for second on this
ultra-impressive list by averaging 10.5 WAR for his seven best years.
Here are the players with the most WAR through age 30 since the time of Babe
Ruth:
Mike Trout, 106.0 an estimate of Trout's WAR at the end of his age 30
season
1. Mickey Mantle, 84.8
2. Alex Rodriguez, 80.5
3. Albert Pujols, 73.8
4. Hank Aaron, 73.7
5. Ken Griffey, 70.7
6. Eddie Mathews, 68.3
7. Willie Mays, 68.3
8. Barry Bonds, 66.4
9. Stan Musial, 64.8
Mike Trout, 64.3 at the end of his age 26 season, with 4 more seasons to
go!
10. Frank Robinson, 63.9
11. Ted Williams, 63.4
12. Rickey Henderson, 61.5
13. Al Kaline, 59.9
14. Johnny Bench, 59.6
Mike Trout recently played in his 1,000th game. Here's how he stacks up with the
best players of all time, when they played in their 1,000th games. Trout has a
higher OPS (.988) than Willie Mays, Mel Ott, Alex Rodriguez, Frank Robinson,
Rogers Hornsby, Hank Aaron, Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Bonds. He has more homers
(224) than Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Mike Schmidt, Lou Gehrig and Aaron. He
has more extra base hits (483) than Robinson, Griffey and Bonds. He has more
walks (635) than Bonds. He has a higher OBP (.414) and more doubles (216) than
Hornsby. He has a higher slugging percentage (.574) than Stan Musial. He has
nearly as many hits (1,126) as Pete Rose, nearly as many total bases (2,097) as
Aaron, nearly as many runs (752) as Rickey Henderson. And no player in MLB
history has had more combined home runs (224) and steals (178) than Mike Trout
at 1,000 games. So Trout is either rivaling or exceeding the best young
"overachievers" who preceded him.
Mike Trout Chronology/Timeline/Milestones/Records
1991 - Mike Trout is born on August 7, 1991
2008 - Mike Trout fires a no-hitter with 18 strikeouts as a high school junior;
Angels scout Greg Morhardt says Trout is the fastest and strongest 17-year-old
he has ever seen
2009 - Mike Trout sets a New Jersey high school record with 18 home runs as a
senior
2009 - Mike Trout graduates from Millville High School, where he earned five
letters in baseball and basketball
2009 - Mike Trout is drafted in the first round by the Angels and signs for $1.2
million (money very well spent!); but the Angels select Trout after Randal
Grichuk!
2009 - Mike Trout reaches base six times in his first pro game and hits .352 at
age 17
2010 - Mike Trout hits .341 with 56 steals and is given the 2010 J.G. Taylor
Spink Award as the the Topps Minor League Player of the Year (the youngest
winner)
2011 - Mike Trout is named baseball's top prospect
2011 - Mike Trout is the youngest player to be called up to the Angels since
1971
2011 - Mike Trout makes his major league debut on July 8, 2011 as a teenager,
age 19
2011 - Mike Trout gets his first hit in his second game, against Seattle
Mariners pitcher Michael Pineda, on July 9, 2011
2011 - Mike Trout hits his first home run against Baltimore Orioles pitcher Mark
Worrell on July 24, 2011
2011 - Mike Trout hits his first home run at Angel Stadium on August 19, 2011
2011 - Mike Trout has his first two-homer game on August 30, 2011
2012 - Mike Trout is brought up from the minors for good on April 28, 2012
2012 - Mike Trout has his first four-hit game on June 4, 2012
2012 - Mike Trout is the AL player of the week for June 4-10, 2012
2012 - Mike Trout breaks the AL rookie record for consecutive games with a run scored
(15) on June 22, 2012
2012 - Mike Trout has his third four-hit game of the month on June 27, 2012
2012 - Mike Trout is the AL Rookie of the Month and the AL Player of the Month
for June
2012 - Mike Trout has a single and a walk in his first all-star game
2012 - Mike Trout wins his fourth AL Rookie of the Month award in August, tying
Ichiro Suzuki's record
2012 - Mike Trout becomes the first rookie and the youngest player to join the
30-30 club, with 30 homers and 30 steals.
2012 - Mike Trout hits .326 with 30 homers and 49 steals, winning the Jackie
Robinson Rookie of the Year Award unanimously on Nov. 12, 2012
2012 - Mike Trout was the youngest AL player to ever win the Rookie of the Year
Award
2012 - Mike Trout wins his first Silver Slugger Award
2012 - Mike Trout broke the Angels' club record for runs in a single season
2012 - Mike Trout is the only player to hit 30 or more home runs and steal at
least 40 bases in his rookie season
2012 - Mike Trout is the youngest player to steal 40 bases in a season since Ty
Cobb in 1907
2012 - Mike Trout is the only player in MLB history to hit 30 home runs, steal
45 bases and score 125 runs in a single season, and he did it as a rookie
2012 - Mike Trout was a Rawlings Gold Gove finalist as a rookie
2012 - Mike Trout finishes second in the AL MVP voting, as a rookie,
leading the AL in WAR (10.5), runs (129), steals (49) and OPS+ (168)
2013 - Mike Trout becomes the youngest AL player to hit for the cycle on May 21,
2013
2013 - Mike Trout and Willie Mays are the only players with multiple seasons
with a .320 average, 25 homers and 30 steals; Trout did it
in his first two full seasons!
2013 - Mike Trout is one of four players to hit .320 with 50 homers and 200 runs
in their first two seasons, joining Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and Albert
Pujols!
2013 - Mike Trout wins his second consecutive Silver Slugger Award
2013 - Mike Trout finishes second in the AL MVP voting as a sophomore,
leading the AL in WAR (9.2), runs (109) and walks (110)
2014 - Mike Trout hits his first walk-off home run on May 15, 2014
2014 - Mike Trout hits the longest home run (489 feet) in Angels history on June
27, 2014
2014 - Mike Trout is the All-Star MVP and the second-youngest after Ken Griffey
Jr.
2014 - Mike Trout hits his first postseason home run against Kansas City Royals
pitcher James Shields
2014 - Mike Trout wins the AL Hank Aaron Award
2014 - Mike Trout wins his third consecutive Silver Slugger Award
2014 - Mike Trout is named AL MVP, leading the AL in WAR (7.6), runs
(115), RBI (111) and total bases (338); he's the youngest unanimous MVP ever
2015 - Mike Trout becomes the youngest MLB player with 100 homers and 100
steals, on April 17, 2015
2015 - Mike Trout is the All-Star MVP for the second time, and the first to be
MVP in consecutive years
2015 - Mike Trout hits his 40th home run on Sept. 22, 2015
2015 - Mike Trout wins his fourth consecutive Silver Slugger Award; only he and
Mike Piazza won four their first four years
2015 - Mike Trout finishes second in the AL MVP voting, leading the AL
in WAR (9.4), slugging (.590), OPS (.991) and OPS+ (176)
2016 - Mike Trout becomes a member of the 30-30 club for a second time
2016 - Mike Trout is the first player in MLB history to finish first or second
in the MVP voting in each of his first five seasons
2016 - Mike Trout wins his fifth consecutive Silver Slugger Award (2012-2016)
2016 - Mike Trout leads the AL in WAR for the fifth consecutive year (2012-2016)
2016 - Mike Trout is named AL MVP for the second time, leading the AL in
WAR (10.5), runs (123), walks (116), OBP (.441) and OPS+ (174)
2017 - Mike Trout joins Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle and Alex Rodriguez as the
only AL players to hit 200 homers before their age 26 seasons
2017 - Mike Trout is an All-Star for the sixth consecutive year (2012-2017) but
cannot play due to a thumb injury that costs him 39 games
2017 - Mike Trout gets his 1000th hit
2017 - Mike Trout homers on his birthday for the fourth time
2017 - Mike Trout is slump-proof; to this point in his career he has never gone
more than two consecutive games without getting on base
2017 - Mike Trout finishes second in all MLB in offensive WAR, ahead of Aaron
Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, despite missing a third of the season!
2017 - Mike Trout finishes fourth in the AL MVP voting despite missing a
third of the season, leading the AL in OBP (.442), slugging (.629), OPS (1.071)
and OPS+ (186)
2018 - Mike Trout has his first five-hit game on May 26, 2018
2018 - Mike Trout becomes a member of the 20-20 club for a fifth time
2018 - Mike Trout reaches 5.0 WAR (all-star level) in 57 games, or a third of a
season; thus Trout is worth three ordinary all-stars according to WAR!
2018 - Mike Trout has the most combined homers (224) and stolen bases (178) for
any player reaching his 1,000th game
2018 - Mike Trout is the first MLB player to have 200 homers and 175 stolen
bases before his age 27 season
2018 - Mike Trout is an All-Star for the seventh consecutive year
2018 - Mike Trout wins his sixth Silver Slugger Award
2018 - Mike Trout is a Rawlings Gold Gove finalist for the second time
2018 - Mike Trout finishes second in the AL MVP voting, leading the AL
in offensive WAR (9.2), walks (122), intentional walks (25), times on base
(279), OBP (.460), OPS (1.088), OPS+ (198), ISO (.316), adjusted batting runs
(73), adjusted batting wins (7.0), and offensive win % (.854)
2019 - There is speculation that the Philadelphia Phillies will make a
"big play" and try to sign Mike Trout, who grew up nearby in New Jersey
2019 - Mike Trout signs a 12-year, $426 million contract with the Angels, the
richest in sports history, on March 20, 2019
2019 - Mike Trout hits his 250th career homer before turning 28,
joining Mickey Mantle, Jimmie Foxx, Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Juan
Gonzalez in an exclusive AL club
2019 - Mike Trout sets a new Angels record for home runs before the all-star
break, with 27, then breaks his own record with number 28, on July 7, 2019
2019 - Mike Trout is elected to his eighth consecutive all-star game and his
seventh in a row as a starter
2019 - Mike Trout wins his seventh Silver Slugger Award
2019 - Mike Trout wins his third AL MVP Award despite playing in only
134 games and playing on a severely injured foot for around a month
Mike Trout Awards, Records & Milestones
Rookie and Age-Related
Mike Trout became the youngest MLB player to hit 20 home runs and steal 40 bases
in a single season, as a rookie in 2012.
Mike Trout became the youngest member of the 30-30 club in 2012.
Mike Trout as a rookie in 2012 became the first MLB player of any age to hit 30
home runs, steal 45 bases and score 125 runs in one season.
Mike Trout, as a rookie in 2012 led the AL with 129 runs, 49 steals and a 168
OPS+.
Mike Trout was the unanimous AL Rookie of the Year in 2012. He was the youngest
AL Rookie of the Year ever, and finished 2nd in the MVP voting.
Mike Trout was also the Wilson Overall Defensive Player of the Year as a rookie
in 2012, for the American League.
Mike Trout had the most times on base (309) of any player in his age-21 season.
Mike Trout was the youngest MLB player to reach 100 home runs and 100 stolen
bases, in his age-23 season.
Mike Trout is the only player in MLB history to have five seasons with 25 homers
and 100 runs by his age-24 season.
Of approximately 19,000 MLB players, only 89 in their entire careers had more
homers and steals than Trout by his age-25 season.
Mike Trout is the only player in MLB history to have 150 home runs and 150
steals before his 26th birthday.
Mike Trout is the third player to hit 25 homers six times before his age-26
season; the others are Eddie Mathews and Frank Robinson.
Comparisons to Baseball Greats
Mike Trout, because of his rare combination of power, speed and center field
range, has been compared to Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays.
Mike Trout is stealing bases at an 85% clip for his career; that is second
all-time only to Tim Raines among players who attempted 200 steals.
Mike Trout won the AL MVP Award in 2014 and 2016, and finished second in 2012,
2013 and 2015.
The only other player to finish in the top two of the MVP voting for five
consecutive years was Barry Bonds, but he cheated!
Mike Trout joins Mickey Mantle, Johnny Bench, Stan Musial, and Jimmie Foxx as
the only position players to win two MVP awards by age 25.
Mike Trout led the AL in WAR his first five full seasons; only Babe Ruth and
Walter Johnson had led their leagues in WAR for five consecutive seasons.
Since 1970, Mike Trout is one of only three players to produce 45 fWAR in a
five-year span; the others were Joe Morgan and Barry Bonds in their primes.
Mike Trout's career 176 OPS+ has been topped only by Lou Gehrig, Barry Bonds,
Ted Williams and Babe Ruth.
Mike Trout had the highest OPS+ (168) for any qualified batter in his age-20
season, leading Ty Cobb (167), Mel Ott (165), Mickey Mantle (162), Al Kaline
(162), Alex Rodriguez (161) and Ted Williams (160).
Mike Trout had the highest OPS+ (179) for any qualified batter in his age-21
season, leading Jimmie Foxx (173), Eddie Mathews (171), Ty Cobb (169), Rogers
Hornsby (169) and Ted Williams (161).
Consistency
Mike Trout has been an All-Star every year since (and including) his rookie
year.
Mike Trout has has won a Silver Slugger in each of his full seasons played.
Mike Trout has led the AL in WAR (5 times), OPS+ (5), runs (4), walks (3), OBP
(3), OPS (3), slugging (2), total bases (1) and RBI (1).
Mike Trout produced 300 or more total bases in each of his five full seasons.
Miscellaneous
Mike Trout is a two-time All Star game MVP.
Mike Trout celebrated his 26th birthday on August 7, 2017 by getting his 1,000th
hit and hitting a home run. It's the fourth time that he's hit a home run on his
birthday.
Mike Trout is a natural at golf too, recording a hole-in-one in 2017. He can
also dunk a basketball and once beat Draymond Green in a game of "horse."
Mike Trout was already far-and-away the best player in baseball. Then in 2017
and 2018 he got insanely better.
The WAR-7-WAR Screen
Here's a screen I developed to compare Trout to the greatest position players of
all time. The screen I chose is players with over 100 career WAR with an average
seasonal WAR for their peak seven years (i.e., WAR7 divided by 7) of 8.0 or
higher (i.e., MVP-caliber numbers). In other words, each player had to appear in
the highest ranks for career achievement (total WAR), plus in the MVP category
for at least seven years. Needless to say, anyone who appears in this list is an
all-time great of the highest magnitude. For the "starting date" (which will
prove very important below), I used the age at which the player had either his
first year 10+ WAR season, or his highest WAR season. Since Trout has not played
seven full seasons yet, I used his total WAR for the five full seasons he has
played, divided by five. Here are the results:
Babe Ruth 163.1 WAR with a peak
average of
12.1 starting at age 25
Willie Mays 156.2 WAR with a peak average of 10.5 starting at age 23
Rogers Hornsby 127.0 WAR with a peak average of 10.5 starting at age 25
Barry Bonds 162.4 WAR with a peak average of 10.4 starting at age 36 (*)
Ty Cobb 151.0 WAR with a peak average of 9.9 starting at age 23
Ted Williams 123.1 WAR with a peak average of 9.9 starting at age 22
Mike Trout 48.4 WAR with a peak average of 9.7 starting at age
20 (he had an amazing 10.8 WAR in his first full
season)
Lou Gehrig 112.4 WAR with a peak average of 9.7 starting at age 24
Honus Wagner 131.0 WAR with a peak average of 9.3 starting at age 31
Mickey Mantle 109.7 WAR with a peak average of 9.2 starting at age 24
Stan Musial 128.1 WAR with a peak average of 9.2 starting at age 27
Alex Rodriguez 117.7 WAR with a peak average of 9.2 starting at age 24 (***)
Eddie Collins 123.9 WAR with a peak average of 9.1 starting at age 23 (when he
had his first and only 10+ WAR season)
Tris Speaker 133.7 WAR with a peak average of 8.9 starting at age 24 (when he
had his first and only 10+ WAR season)
Barry Bonds 111.1 WAR with a peak average of 8.9 starting at age 36 (**)
Albert Pujols 100.2 WAR with a peak average of 8.8 starting at age 29 (when he
had his highest WAR season at 9.7)
Hank Aaron 142.6 WAR with a peak average of 8.6 starting at age 27 (when he had
his highest WAR season at 9.4)
Nap Lajoie 107.4 WAR with a peak average of 8.6 starting at age 31 (when he had
his first and only 10+ WAR season)
Joe Morgan 100.3 WAR with a peak average of 8.4 starting at age 31 (when he had
his first and only 10+ WAR season)
Mike Schmidt 106.5 WAR with a peak average of 8.4 starting at age 24 (when he
had his highest WAR season at 9.7)
Alex Rodriguez 102.4 WAR with a peak average of 8.0 starting at age 24
(****)
(*) Barry Bonds didn't have his first 10+ WAR season until he was 36. That is
obviously very unusual, and the Occam's Razor answer to the question raised
is that Bonds would be much lower on this list if not for PEDs. From age 21-35,
Bonds amassed 111.1 WAR in 15 seasons, for an average of 7.4, which is a bit
below MVP level. He averaged 7.3 WAR from age 29-35, after having reached the
9.0-9.9 level three times from age 25-28. His WAR looks pretty "normal" for an
MVP-caliber player: he started off a bit slow, then played "lights out"
for a short period of time in his prime years (when he won three MVP awards),
then his WAR started to slide a bit as he got older, although he continued to
play at an "almost MVP" level. But if we look at his WAR just before it
zoomed up to unprecedented heights, it had dropped to 5.75 in his age 34-35
years. That's still an all-star level, but nothing like what came next. The next
two seasons, age 36-37, his WAR soared to the 11.8-11.9 range.
No other player in baseball history had WAR that high at those ages even once,
much less twice!
(**) My "educated guess" is that if Bonds hadn't cheated and kept playing, his
peak average WAR would have been 8.9 (the average of his seven best WAR years
prior to age 36, since his WAR had peaked years before and was starting to slip
considerably, as noted above). The 111.1 WAR estimated is the WAR he had
accumulated prior to what seems like obvious cheating. I have no idea what his
performance would have been like without PEDs, so I will stick with the last
known good number. I think this little chart demonstrates that Bonds was still
an all-time great―ranking close to sluggers like
Aaron, Pujols and Schmidt―but without PEDs he was not
playing at the same exalted level as Ruth, Mays, Hornsby, Cobb, Williams, Trout,
Gehrig, Wagner, Mantle, Musial and Collins.
(***) Alex Rodriguez seems to be a somewhat different case, because apparently
he used PEDs all his career, or nearly all his career. It does seem interesting
that A-Rod's WAR soared in 2000, which is around the time that Bonds' WAR also
started to soar. So let's assume that A-Rod started cheating in 2000, which I
believe he admitted (although his story has changed more than once).
(****) Prior to the 2000 season, Rodriguez had averaged 7.1 WAR per season,
which would keep him off this list. But he was young and could have been
expected to improve in his prime without cheating. To estimate some sort of
reasonable WAR without PEDs, I took his actual average WAR (7.1) for his first
four seasons, figured a jump up to MVP class for the next seven seasons (8.0
average), then estimated 18.0 WAR for his declining years. That makes my "wild
guess" estimate 102.4.
Cumulative WAR through Completion of Age 24 Season
(1) Mike Trout 48.5
(2) Ty Cobb 46.7
(3) Mickey Mantle 40.9
(4) Alex Rodriguez 38.0
(5) Ken Griffey Jr. 37.0
(6) Mel Ott 36.8
(7) Rogers Hornsby 36.1
(8) Jimmie Foxx 36.0
(9) Arky Vaughn 34.3
(10) Ted Williams 34.2 (*)
(*) Ted Williams did not play his age 24 season because he was serving in the
U.S. military during WWII. If he had played and matched his 10.6 WAR of the two
previous seasons, he would have 44.8 WAR to rank third, after Trout and Cobb.
Cumulative WAR through Completion of Age 25 Season
Mike Trout recently joined an elite club: players with 50 or more career WAR in
their age 25 season.
Ty Cobb 55.8
Mike Trout 55.1 (after missing a third of his age 25 season due
to an injury)
Mickey Mantle 52.1
"WAR Floor" (Lowest Seasonal WAR During Peak Period)
How consistently great has Mike Trout been? Well, since he became a
full-time player, in his "worst season" he had 115 runs, 111 RBI, 39 doubles, 9
triples, 36 homers, 83 walks, 338 total bases, 16 stolen bases with an 89%
success rate, and slugged .561 with a .938 OPS. That's a career year for
virtually anyone else!
Trout has the highest "WAR floor" among the peak performers ...
Mike Trout, age 20-24, 7.9
to 10.8 (with ~ 12.1 projected at Trout's 2017 pace before being injured)
Willie Mays, age 23-35, 7.6 to 11.2
Lou Gehrig, age 23-34, 6.8 to 11.8
Eddie Collins, age 22-29, 6.5 to 10.5
Babe Ruth, age 24-29, 6.3 to 14.1
(**)
Mickey Mantle, age 22-29, 6.3 to 11.3
Barry Bonds, age 23-33, 6.2 to 9.9 (Bonds was great but not in the highest
stratosphere until he began using PEDs around age 34)
Mike Schmidt, age 24-34, 6.2 to 9.7
Hank Aaron, age 21-35, 6.2 to 9.4
Wade Boggs, age 25-31, 6.2 to 9.1
Tris Speaker, age 21-29, 6.1 to 10.1
Rickey Henderson, age 21-27, 6.0 to 9.9
Honus Wagner, age 25-35, 5.8 to 11.5
Ty Cobb, age 20-31, 5.6 to 11.3
Albert Pujols, age 21-30, 5.5 to 9.7
Met Ott, age 20-29, 5.5 to 8.9
Rogers Hornsby, age 21-29, 5.4 to 12.1
Alex Rodriguez, age 20-32, 4.7 to 10.4
Stan Musial, age 22-36, 4.6 to 11.1
Jimmie Foxx, age 21-27, 4.6 to 10.5
Frank Robinson, age 20-30, 4.3 to 8.7
Ken Griffey Jr., age 21-28, 3.3 to 9.7
According to the stats above, Mike Trout has a higher "floor" than these
all-time greats because his lowest full-year WAR was MVP-class at 7.9. A season
with WAR 8.0 or higher is generally considered to be an MVP-candidate season,
and Trout has had 7.9 WAR or higher in every
full season he's played. (To confirm the WAR Level, Trout has finished first or
second in the MVP voting for every full season he's played.) Trout has been
consistently great. One writer described Trout's career so far
as "consistent excellence" compared
to the ups and downs of Bryce Harper, his closest active peer. Another writer
described Trout as "ruthlessly excellent" with echoes of Babe Ruth. Trout has
also been called "freakishly good." The closest player in year-to-year
consistency to Trout was Willie Mays, but his prime began three years later than
Trout's, age-wise. In MLB history, there has never been a player who had five
straight MVP-caliber years, who started as young as Mike Trout and was as
consistently great.
(**) Babe Ruth only played 110 games in 1922, due to a suspension for
barnstorming and did not have one of his best seasons when he returned to
action, ending up with 6.3 WAR. Ruth's weight ballooned to 255 pounds in 1925,
and he only played 98 games during his "bellyache" season, which interrupted a
string of superlative seasons from 1923-1932. If not for those two sub-par
years, Ruth would top this chart. If we ignored his "real war" years, Ted
Williams would top this chart with a "WAR floor" of 8.5 from age 22 to 30.
So far, in every full season he's played, Trout's OPS+ has never dropped below
third in MLB. That is truly remarkable "consistency of excellence."
Trout is a member of a very exclusive list of players who won two MVP awards
before their 25th birthdays. The others are Jimmie Foxx, Stan Musial, Mickey
Mantle and Johnny Bench.
Mike Trout is the only MLB player to have a 10.8 or higher WAR season at age 20.
His closest competitors in this regard are Mantle and Lou Gehrig, who both did
it at age 24.
Active Players Ranked by OPS+
How does Mike Trout compare to the best active players (those in the Top 100 of
all time), ranked by OPS+?
(#96) Andrew McCutcheon and Freddie Freeman (137 OPS+) comparable to Ken Griffey
Jr., George Brett
(#89) Buster Posey (138 OPS+) comparable to Bill Terry, Home Run Baker
(#83) Josh Donaldson (139 OPS+) comparable to Reggie Jackson, Norm Cash
(#75) Bryce Harper and Ryan Braun (140 OPS+) comparable to Duke Snider, Alex
Rodriguez
(#69) David Ortiz (141 OPS+) comparable to Babe Herman, Chipper Jones, Larry
Walker
(#61) Giancarlo Stanton (142 OPS+) comparable to Cap Anson, Eddie Collins, Mike
Piazza
(#41) Paul Goldschmidt (148 OPS+) comparable to Harry Heilmann, Mike Schmidt,
Willie Stargell
(#26) Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera (154 OPS+) comparable to Honus Wagner,
Frank Robinson
(#18) Joey Votto (157 OPS+) comparable to Tris Speaker, Mel Ott, Willie Mays,
Hank Aaron
(#6) Mike Trout (174) comparable to Mickey Mantle and Rogers Hornsby;
higher than Ty Cobb, Jimmie Foxx, Stan Musial, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Willie
Mays, Hank Aaron, et al.
The only players who rank above Mike Trout in career OPS+ are Babe Ruth, Ted
Williams, Barry Bonds, Lou Gehrig and Rogers Hornsby.
Centerfielder OPS+
Mike Trout 173
Mickey Mantle+ 172
Ty Cobb+ 168
Pete Browning 163
Lip Pike 158
Tris Speaker+ 157
Willie Mays+ 156
Joe DiMaggio+ 155
Benny Kauff 149
John O'Rourke 149
Hack Wilson+ 144
Mike Donlin 144
Billy Hamilton+ 141
Duke Snider+ 140
Wally Berger 138
Ken Griffy Jr.+ 136
Larry Doby+ 136
George Gore 136
Andrew McCutcheon 135
Jake Stenzel 134
Dutch Zwilling 134
Earl Averill+ 133
Jim Edmunds 132
Paul Hines 132
Fred Lynn 129
Jim Wynn 129
Josh Hamilton 129
Pete Reiser 128
Ellis Burks 126
Bug Holliday 126
Edd Roush+ 126
Earle Combs+ 125
Eric Davis 125
Rick Monday 125
Stan Spence 125
Cy Williams 125
Bernie Williams 125
Kirby Puckett+ 124
Bobby Murcer 124
Hugh Duffy+ 123
Cesar Cedeno 123
Matt Kemp 122
Dale Murphy 121
Chili Davis 121
Al Oliver 121
Chet Lemon 121
Lenny Dysktra 120
Andre Dawson+ 119
Carlos Beltran 119
Curtis Granderson 116
Grady Sizemore 115
Charlie Blackmon 114
Adam Eaton 114
Richie Ashburn+ 111
Max Carey+ 108
Ned Hanlon+ 102
Lloyd Waner+ 99
Top 10 All-Time OPS+ Regardless of Position
(1) Babe Ruth+ 206
(2) Ted Williams+ 190
(3) Barry Bonds 182 ---------- Inflated by cheating?
(4) Lou Gehrig+ 179
(5) Mike Trout 176
(6) Rogers Hornsby+ 175
(7) Mickey Mantle+ 172
(8) Dan Brouthers+ 171
(9) Shoeless Joe Jackson 170
(10) Ty Cobb+ 168
Joey Votto 155
Miguel Cabrera 151
Albert Pujols 149
Age 24 Comparisons to the All-Time Greats
(#1) Mike Trout 48.5 WAR ~ Ty Cobb 46.7
(#1) Mike Trout 784 strikeouts ~ Alex Rodriguez 616
(#2) Mike Trout 154.5 power/speed ~ Alex Rodriguez 156.1
(#2) Mike Trout 29.6 adjusted batting wins ~ Ty Cobb 33.6 / Ted Williams 29.2
(#2) Mike Trout 30.5 adjusted batting runs ~ Ted Williams 30.7
(#3) Mike Trout 731 runs created ~ Jimmie Foxx 734
(#3) Mike Trout 36 sacrifice flies ~ Johnny Bench 41
(#4) Mike Trout 170 OPS+ ~ Lou Gehrig 171
(#4) Mike Trout 1,442 times on base ~ Mickey Mantle 1,436
(#5) Mike Trout 380 extra base hits ~ Ken Griffey Jr. 385
(#5) Mike Trout 477 walks ~ Eddie Mathews 471
(#6) Mike Trout 1,670 total base ~ Cobb 1,687 / Mantle 1,648
(#7) Mike Trout 168 home runs ~ Griffey 172 / Mantle 173 / Foxx 174 / Ott 176
(#8) Mike Trout 784 offensive win percentage ~ Rogers Hornsby .770
(#9) Mike Trout 600 runs ~ Foxx 612 / Cobb 618
(#9) Mike Trout .963 OPS ~ Stan Musial .962
(#9) Mike Trout 3,558 plate appearance ~ Ken Griffey Jr. 3,606
Supporting Casts
Please note that this section was written in 2017.
Heaven knows what Trout could do if the hitters behind him struck fear in
pitchers' hearts, as Lou Gehrig did for Babe Ruth, as Willie McCovey did for
Willie Mays, and as Eddie Mathews did for Hank Aaron.
I think it is interesting and important to note the supporting casts of the
greatest hitters of all time, with the names of hall-of-famers bolded below. Ted
Williams was normally surrounded by superior hitters. The Yankees fell out of
first place in 1924 and actually had a losing season in 1925, with Babe Ruth
hitting an all-too-mortal .290 and slugging well below his standards at .543.
The Yankees did not become "Murderers' Row" until they were joined by future
hall-of-famers Lou Gehrig, Earle Combs and Tony Lazzeri. In 1955, when Yogi
Berra and Bill Skowron had sub-par years, Mickey Mantle's offensive output also
dropped. In 1960 when the Yankees added Roger Maris and Skowron had a better
year, Mantle's numbers went back up into the stratosphere. Mantle's best years
coincided with Roger Maris's best years. When Maris had his season for the ages,
hitting 61 homers in 1961, Mantle had his best year. And it obviously helped
that Elston Howard raised his OPS to 153 that same year.
So supporting casts really do matter. Runners on base ahead of a batter and
formidable bats following make a star hitter more productive. What Trout has
accomplished on a team of "challenged" hitters is all the more remarkable, when
we consider the rosters below ...
Babe Ruth played with Lou Gehrig, Home Run Baker, Earle
Combs, Bill Dickey, Tony Lazzeri, Leo Durocher, Joe Sewell, Bob Meusel,
Mark Koenig, Ben Chapman, Frankie Crossetti, Wally Pipp
Ted Williams played with Jimmie Foxx, Joe
Cronin, Bobby Doerr, Vern Stephens,
George Kell, Dom DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky, Birdie Tebbetts,
Jackie Jensen, Frank Malzone, Pete Runnels, Jimmy Piersall
Mickey Mantle played with Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra,
Johnny Mize, Phil Rizzuto, Enos Slaughter, Bill Skowron, Elston Howard,
Billy Martin, Bobby Richardson, Tony Kubek, Hank Bauer, Gil McDougald
Willie Mays played with Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda,
Monte Irvin, Al Dark, Jim Ray Hart, Hank Thompson, Bobby Thompson,
Bobby Bonds, Felipe Alou, Matty Alou, Jesus Alou, Hank Sauer
Mike Trout has played with an aging Albert Pujols,
a largely ineffective Josh Hamilton, Kole Calhoun, C. J. Cron, Mark Trumbo,
Howie Kendrick, Erick Aybar, Torri Hunter, David Freese, Yunnel Escobar
As bad as Trout's supporting cast has been, some of the less-bad names only
played with him for a season or two: for instance, Hamilton, Trumbo, Hunter and
Freese. Trumbo had only one 100 RBI season for the Angels, and Hunter drove in
92 in his one season as Trout's teammate. Other than Pujols, the Angels have not
had a consistent RBI man, and Pujols has been slipping, with his batting
average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS heading south. To
illustrate the problem, here are the highest OPS+ and RBI of Trout's best
supporting hitters during their time together, compared to other supporting
casts ...
Albert Pujols (138/119), Torri Hunter (129/92), Kole Calhoun
(123/83), Howie Kendrick (118/75), Josh Hamilton (115/79), C. J. Cron (115/69),
Mark Trumbo (109/100), David Freese (109/56), Erick Aybar (107/68)
Lou Gehrig (220/185), Home Run Baker (173/130), Tony Lazzeri (159/121),
Bill Dickey (158/133), Earle Combs (158/82), Joe Sewell (146/109), Bob
Meusel (135/134), Ben Chapman (135/122), Wally Pipp (127/110)
Jimmie Foxx (207/175), Bobby Doerr (165/120), Jackie Jensen
(148/122), Vern Stephens (141/159), Joe Cronin
(138/126), George Kell (136/101), Dom DiMaggio (123/87), Frank Malzone
(105/103)
Joe DiMaggio (184/167), Johnny Mize (178/138), Roger Maris
(167/141), Enos Slaughter (156/130), Elston Howard (153/91),
Bill Skowron (145/91), Yogi Berra (142/125), Hank Bauer
(132/84), Phil Rizzuto (122/66)
Willie McCovey (209/126), Orlando Cepeda (165/142), Monte Irvin (147/121),
Jim Ray Hart (151/99), Hank Thompson (146/86), Bobby Bonds (144/102), Felipe
Alou (132/98), Hank Sauer (125/76)
The figures above represent the best offensive seasons by
Trout's teammates, not the typical results. Take, for example, the Angels who
played on 5/16/2017. At that point in time, the average OPS for all MLB was
.734. Other than Trout, not a single Angel qualified as above average, or even
as average. In fact, most of the Angel starters were around 100 points
below
average. To illustrate just how weak the rest of the Angels have been in 2017
offensively, if we removed Trout from the team as of 5/16/2017 they would have:
Yunel Escobar, 74th in batting average (.272)
Martin Maldonado, 85th in WAR (.8)
Cameron Maybin, 97th in OBP (.328)
Yunel Escobar, 106th in slugging percentage (.411)
Yunel Escobar, 111th in OPS (.735)
Those are stunning bad offensive statistics! The only major offensive "positive"
that I can see for the Angels, other than Trout's phenomenal output in the midst
of so much mediocrity, is Albert Pujols' preternatural ability to drive in runs
without hitting well otherwise. Somehow, Pujols is on track to drive in 100+
runs again despite slashing .238/.276/.363/.639. I'm not sure how he does it,
but the man does have a knack for driving in runs, rain or shine. But other than
Trout's overall excellence and Pujols knocking in runs, the Angels have been
extremely "challenged" offensively. This hardly seems fair to Mike Trout, and
one can only hope that he will get more support from his teammates in the near
future. If he does, his numbers could be even better. Has there ever been a
truly great hitter who had a weaker supporting cast? If there was, I haven't
found him yet. That makes Trout's offensive production seem all the more
amazing.
G.O.A.T.?
Is Mike Trout the new Mickey Mantle, or is he potentially even better? Here are
parallels between Trout and Mantle:
They both turned pro at age 17.
The both debuted as major league players as teenagers, at age 19.
They both played shortstop, then switched to center field.
They both shared a rare combination of speed, power, athleticism and defensive
ability.
They were both all-stars in five of their first six seasons.
They both had their first 100 RBI season in their fourth years.
They both led the AL in runs scored for three consecutive years, a rare feat
only matched by immortals Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Eddie Collins and Ted Williams.
Their age 20-24 stats for batting average/homers/runs are almost identical:
Trout .310/163/580 and Mantle .313/160/581. Mantle batted three points higher;
Trout had three more homers. It's a dead heat.
Through age 24, Mickey Mantle had 1,648 total bases and Mike Trout had 1,622.
Through age 24, Mickey Mantle had 710 runs created and Mike Trout had 721.
Through age 24, Mike Trout had a .559 career slugging percentage; Mickey Mantle
had a career .557 slugging percentage.
OPS+ helps compare hitters from different eras. At age 25, Trout had a career
172 OPS+, which exactly matches Mantle's career 172 OPS+. That puts them both in
the top ten of all time, in another dead heat.
In his age 25 season, Mickey Mantle hit .365 with a 221 OPS+. So far in his age
25 season, as of March 29, 2017, Mike Trout is hitting .355 with a 220 OPS+.
Mickey Mantle was named after Hall-of-Fame catcher Mickey Cochrane, who was
called "Mike" by his family and friends.
Mickey Mantle was called "The Commerce Comet" and Mike Trout is called "The
Millville Meteor."
Hell, they even look like twins!
Mike Trout compared to Mickey Mantle, through their first six seasons:
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BA
OB% SLG% OPS+ SB SB% FLD% MVP WAR
Trout 811 2,997 600 917
175 37 168 497 .306 .405 .557
170
143 .836 .992 2 48.5
Mantle 808 2,944 642 907 136
43 173 575
.308 .412 .570
166 43 .729 .980 1 40.9
Mantle has an edge in power and run production, while Trout has a decided edge
in stolen bases and fielding percentage. However, Mantle's edge in run
production can be at least partially attributed to his playing with teammates
who were better offensively than Trout's.
There are reasons to believe that Mike Trout could exceed Mickey Mantle's
accomplishments: (1) Trout is a more productive and efficient base stealer. (2)
Trout's career fielding percentage is considerably higher than Mantle's. (3)
Trout has accomplished as much playing on lesser teams than Mantle's Yankees; if
Trout's teammates improve that will give him a boost. (4) Mantle did not have to
contend with the quantity and quality of modern relief pitchers; he was able to
feast on weakening starters in the later innings. (5) Trout is facing better
competition due to the presence of more black and Hispanic players. (6) Mantle
had injury and drinking problems that shortened his career; his last superior
season was at age 32. If Trout can remain productive longer than Mantle, the sky
seems to be the limit for him.
Mike Trout Projections: Is He Getting Better?
In 2016, Mike Trout led the AL in runs (123), runs created (148), walks (116),
times on base (300), OBP (.441), WAR (10.5), Offensive WAR (9.9), OPS+ (174),
WPA (6.5), offensive win percentage (.800), adjusted batting runs (65), adjusted
batting wins (6.2), power-speed (29.5), base-out runs added (73.16), base-out
wins added (7.2), and situational wins added (6.6). He was second in OPS (.991)
and steals (30), third in intentional walks (12), fourth in slugging (.550),
fifth in batting average (.315), ninth in stolen base percentage (.8108), and
tenth in triples (5). His batting average, OBP, OPS, OPS+ and WAR were all
higher in 2016 than his six-year career averages.
Then in 2017 and 2018, Trout's OBP, OPS, OPS+ and WAR per game went up!
While it's true that we can expect Mike Trout's numbers to decline in his later
years, we may see a surge as he enters his prime years (normally a player's late
twenties to early or mid-thirties). And great players do tend to remain productive
much longer than average players. Here are some observations about WAR as great
players age:
36 - Ted Williams hit .356 and slugged .703 with 6.9 WAR
36 - Stan Musial hit .351 with 6.1 WAR
37 - Ted Williams hit .345 with a .479 OBP and had 6.1 WAR
37 - Tris Speaker led the AL with a .479 OBP and had 6.5 WAR
38 - Babe Ruth had 34 homers and slugged .582 with 6.3 WAR
38 - Ted Williams hit .388, slugged .731 and had 9.5 WAR
39 - Hank Aaron had 40 homers, 96 RBI and 4.7 WAR
39 - Ted Williams led the AL in batting .328, OBP .458 and OPS 1.042 with 4.0
WAR
39 - Babe Ruth had a 160 OPS+ with 5.1 WAR
40 - Ty Cobb hit .357 with 4.4 WAR
40 - David Ortiz led the AL with .620 slugging, 127 RBI and had 5.2 WAR
40 - Willie Mays led the NL with .425 OBP, stole 23 bases while only being
caught 3 times, and had 6.1 WAR
41 - Ted Williams hit .316 with 29 home runs and slugged .645 with 3.0 WAR
41 - Stan Musial hit .330 with 3.6 WAR
41 - Barry Bonds hit 26 homers and had a .454 OBP with 4.0 WAR
42 - Barry Bonds hit 28 homers, led the NL with .480 OBP, and had 3.4 WAR
So great players can remain productive into their late 30s and early 40s. If
Trout plays 22 years, like Babe Ruth, and averages more than 8.341 WAR per year,
he can break Ruth's all-time record. With Trout's history of injuries, that will
be very difficult to accomplish, but time will tell.
Batting Averages Since 1950
These are the top 20 career batting averages for players who played their entire
careers after 1950. Mike Trout has the highest OPS+ and the second-highest
slugging percentage on this list. So there is a strong case to be made that
Trout is the best overall hitter of the last 70 years. We would have to go back
to Ted Williams to find someone who hit over .300 with an OPS+ that high.
Player, Batting Average, Slugging Percentage, OPS+
Tony Gwynn .338, .459, 132
Wade Boggs .328, .415, 131
Rod Carew .328, .429, 131
Kirby Puckett .318, .477, 124
Vladimir Guerrero .318, .553, 140
Roberto Clemente .317, .475, 130
Jose Altuve .316, .455, 127
Todd Helton .316, .539, 133
Miguel Cabrera .316, .550, 151
Nomar Garciaparra .313, .521, 124
Larry Walker .313, .565, 141
Manny Ramirez .312, .585, 154
Edgar Martinez .312, .515, 147
Jackie Robinson .311, .474, 132
Ichiro Suzuki .311, .402, 107
Joey Votto .310, .529, 155
Derek Jeter .310, .440, 115
Magglio Ordonez .309, .502, 125
Mike Piazza .308, .545, 142
Mike Trout .308, .576, 176
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