Mike Trout Is Good at Playing Baseball

FiveThirtyEight.com - Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout is widely acknowledged to be the best player in baseball and has been for quite some time. But for all his gifts, awards recognition has been hard for Trout to come by. Although Trout has led the American League in wins above replacement (WAR) for each of the past five seasons,¹ he had only won MVP honors once going into Thursday night’s award announcement — and victory there was far from assured.

Unlike in the past, though, when Trout’s horrid teammates were held against him in favor of some lesser player on a winning team, the voters broke with tradition and went for the player with stellar individual numbers. In winning the MVP, Trout became just the sixth player from a losing teamto take home the hardware. It was a victory for the new ways of player evaluation and a more modern take on what the “valuable” part of MVP really means.

But even if Trout hadn’t won the award, he could have taken the same solace he could last year: MVP or not, but he’s still tracking to be the G.O.A.T.

WAR THROUGH AGE 20				WAR THROUGH AGE 21
1	Mike Trout	11.4		1	Mike Trout	20.7
2	Mel Ott	11.4		2	Mel Ott	17.9
3	Ty Cobb	9.5		3	Ty Cobb	15.7
4	Bryce Harper	8.9		4	Ken Griffey Jr.	15.5
5	Al Kaline	8.9		5	Al Kaline	15.4
a
WAR THROUGH AGE 22				WAR THROUGH AGE 23
1	Mike Trout	28.6		1	Mike Trout	37.9
2	Ty Cobb	25.5		2	Ty Cobb	36.0
3	Ted Williams	23.6		3	Ted Williams	34.2
4	Mel Ott	23.5		4	Mel Ott	31.4
5	Alex Rodriguez	22.9		5	Ken Griffey Jr.	30.1
a
WAR THROUGH AGE 24
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

Mike Trout just won another MVP and he is clearly seen as a top player in the game today. Many argue he is the best player in the game currently. This should even be a discussion. If this cat played in New York or Boston, He would be the biggest name in baseball since Griffey. Even though he plays in the 2nd largest media market, The Angels get forgotten about being the second team in that market and usually not seen by the majority of media located on the east coast because of time zones.

I pray this guy stays healthy because his defense, speed, and game awareness is just as awesome as his craft of hitting a baseball. I had the pleasure to meet this guy pregame when he was in town his rookie year before he blew up. Nicest guy going and I was floored at this build. Guy looked like a Running back when he was warning up in tee shirt and shorts. You could clearly see he was the alpha athlete amongst everyone else warming up that day and he was only 19 years old.

I mentally compare this guy to Griffey a lot. Who knows what Griffey would've done if he had stayed healthy. When Griffey lost his speed it was a tragedy to all baseball fans because we missed out on greatness. Just like Bo Jackson. 

Griffey appeared smoother in every aspect. Running/jumping/Swing(Smoothest Every IMO) and held himself with a new found swagger that was new to the league. (P.S. Him getting full credit for the backwards hat is something that we need to address in the future)

Trout does everything that Griffey did but in a explosive manner that isn't always smooth. But, he has been a better player through age 25 IMO and is built to last longer than Griffey but time will only tell.

I will say he is one of the few athletes in SoCal that I will go out of my way to go see in person because TV doesn't do this guy justice.