Each spring for at least the past three years, Trout vows to get back to his old form. He says his doubters — like MLB Network, which ranked him 39th in the league last year — serve as motivation. The question of how to keep Trout healthy looms large in Angels camp and eventually becomes a national storyline, one that this year began with him moving from center field to right field to reduce wear and tear on his legs. But Griffey, Barry Bonds, Ted Williams and others all at least won a playoff game.
Baseball America Double-A All-Star
Of the more than a dozen people The Athletic spoke to for this story, not a single one thought Trout would ever ask Moreno to move him, what Trout called “the easy way out” in 2024. A trade seems especially unlikely now, given Trout’s age, injury history, declining performance and a contract that still has roughly $190 million on it. He didn’t play in the field after April because of lingering soreness with a surgically repaired left meniscus, and some in the industry think Trout’s days as a regular DH may be close, if not already here.
Griffey, though, won a playoff series at 25 (the 1995 ALDS over the Yankees) and appeared in two more. Plus, he played with flair and charisma — who can forget the iconic backward hat? At the peak of his popularity, Trout was notorious for turning down marketing opportunities. Mike Trout appeared in 3 postseason games.In those games, they recorded a batting average of 0.083, OBP of 0.267,SLG of 0.333, and OPS of 0.600.They also tallied 1 HR, 1 H, 1 RBI, and 0 SB.
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With the addition of the third wild card, anything seems possible. Last year, Trout fell out of MLB’s top 20 in jersey sales, a list where he consistently ranked in the top 10 ever since his arrival (at No. 5) at the end of the 2012 season. This summer, Trout wasn’t voted as an All-Star by fans for the first time since he came up. Some in the game openly wondered why, especially when it seemed to be based on little more than blind faith. In the expanded postseason era, it’s never been easier to get to October.
- Plus, he played with flair and charisma — who can forget the iconic backward hat?
- But the Angels weren’t seen as an up-and-coming team anymore, coming off of three sub-.500 seasons in which they finished 20-plus games out of the AL West lead — not to mention the July 2019 overdose death of Skaggs, which implicated a team staffer and cast a pall over the organization.
- At the peak of his popularity, Trout was notorious for turning down marketing opportunities.
- In his prime, the three-time MVP was a baseball god, drawing comparisons to Mickey Mantle.
- Mike Trout made their MLB debut in 2011 and played in 1,518 games over 14 seasons.Below are key cumulative stats along with their respective all-time MLB ranks.
- Since signing that mega-deal, Trout has had five managers, including interim managers (the Angels hired a sixth, Kurt Suzuki, last month).
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- Todd Helton spent his entire Hall of Fame career with the Rockies and reached the World Series in 2007, at age 33.
- Ahead of his third full MLB season in 2014, the Angels bought out his arbitration years and signed him to a six-year, $144.5 million extension.
- The question of how to keep Trout healthy looms large in Angels camp and eventually becomes a national storyline, one that this year began with him moving from center field to right field to reduce wear and tear on his legs.
- By the time he was entering the final year of his extension, Trout had already amassed Hall of Fame numbers.
- But Griffey, Barry Bonds, Ted Williams and others all at least won a playoff game.
- Some of baseball’s biggest stars congregate at the New York Hilton to collect the prestigious Baseball Writers Association of America Awards for the previous season, including MVPs Miguel Cabrera and Buster Posey and young stars Mike Trout and Bryce Harper, named Rookies of the Year for the American and National Leagues, respectively.
- They finally got one, and Trout promptly pulled off a highway exit — and into a hotel parking lot in Irvine, where he popped the question.
Harper, perhaps the most touted prospect of all time — a Sports Illustrated cover story dubbed him “The Chosen One” as a 16-year-old — received 16 of 28 first-place votes in a standout first full season for the Washington Nationals. But Trout, a unanimous selection from the Los Angeles Angels, was otherworldly; fitting for a player nicknamed the “Millville Meteor,” a nod to Trout’s New Jersey hometown, by a fan editing his Wikipedia page. Trout has led the American League in runs (2012–14, 2016) and times on base (2013, 2015–16, 2018) four times.5 In 2019, he signed a 12-year, $426 million contract with the Angels, one of the richest contracts ever in professional sports and the second-biggest contract at the time of signing.
Banks was an icon, but his stats pale in comparison to Trout, who owns a WAR of 87.5, the highest ever for a modern player who hasn’t won a postseason game. To find a player with a better WAR and no playoff success, you have to go back to Nap Lajoie, who debuted for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1896, 99 years before the invention of the wild card. Ripken won the World Series in 1983, his second full-time season, and committed to staying in Baltimore. He returned to the postseason in 1996 and ‘97, but never advanced past the AL Championship Series. The Hall of Famer said the only aspect of his career he regrets is not winning more championships. Trout’s boyhood hero was Derek Jeter, who spent his whole career with the New York Yankees.
MLB Players Choice AL Outstanding Player
Trout is a generational talent, a player who should have been plastered on Times Square billboards and cereal boxes. It’s the third weekend in January 2013, and it’s unseasonably warm in New York, with temperatures climbing into the low 50s.
And while Trout’s WAR long ago eclipsed Jeter’s, his legacy is different. Jeter was elevated by the Yankees’ mystique and five World Series rings. Trout played on Angels teams that were generally out of contention and off the national radar, while the Dodgers dominated the local market.
Trout HRs in final AB of ’25 to complete torrid season-ending stretch
On June 12, homered for the 223rd time, passing Brian Downing for sole possession of third in franchise history…Enters 2019 needing 32 home runs to tie Garret Anderson for second. Mike Trout made their MLB debut in 2011 and appeared in 1,518 games over 14 seasons. They posted a batting average of 0.299, OPS of 0.991, hit 378 HRs, and recorded 86.0 WAR. On September 9, Trout underwent a cryoablation procedure to address a neuroma in his right foot.149 On September 15, it was announced that Trout would undergo full-fledged surgery to remove the neuroma, ending his 2019 season.150 He finished the season with a career-high 45 home runs and led the American League in on-base percentage and slugging percentage. When Jeter was coming up, he and everyone wanted to be Ken Griffey, Jr., the most popular player in the game, despite playing in Seattle, a relative baseball backwater.
In 12th season with the Angels, despite being limited to 119 games due to a rib injury, still produced third 40-run campaign of career…Became just the sixth player in baseball history to amass 40 home run in 120 games or less and just the fourth to do so in a non-strike shortened season…Finished afrodite casino eighth in the A.L. On September 6, 2017, against the Oakland Athletics, Trout drew a walk in his 14th consecutive contest to pass Albie Pearson for the franchise record of 13 set in 1961.129130 He hit his 200th career home run off of Marco Gonzales of the Seattle Mariners on September 29, 2017. On May 28, 2017, Trout left the game after spraining his left thumb.