Thursday, July 8 is the 10th anniversary of Mike Trout's MLB debut. The Angels superstar is already a three-time MVP winner and a nine-time All-Star, and he has a mix of power, speed and defense that doesn't come along often. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of his debut, here are 10 great Mike Trout stats.
1. He's the only player ever with 300 HR, 200 SB and a .300/.400/.500 slash line 10 years after his debut
As it stands today, Trout has a career line of: .305 AVG, .419 OBP, .583 SLG, 310 homers and 203 stolen bases. He's the only player in MLB history with 300 home runs, 200 stolen bases and a .300/.400/.500 slash line on the 10th anniversary of his MLB debut.
Two other guys came close:
- Barry Bonds is the only other player with 300 HR and 200 SB at that point in his career, but he fell short in batting average (.286) and OBP (.398).
- Alex Rodriguez had 366 HR and had a .306 batting average at that point in his career, but he fell short in stolen bases (195) and OBP (.381).
2. He has the longest streak of consecutive top-five MVP finishes in MLB history
Last season, Trout finished fifth in the AL MVP voting, the *worst* finish of his career. But it was the ninth straight season he finished in the top five -- that's the longest streak of its kind since the BBWAA started voting for the award in 1931.
And it's tied for the third-most top-five finishes since 1931.
Most Top-5 MVP Finishes – In BBWAA Voting
- Barry Bonds: 12
- Albert Pujols: 11
- Mike Trout: 9
- Willie Mays: 9
- Mickey Mantle: 9
- Ted Williams: 9
3. He's better in years he *doesn't* win the MVP award than in years he *wins* it
Trout is already one of 11 players to win three MVP awards, but his numbers are even better in the years he does not win the award.
His *average* slash line when he's not the MVP is .308/.420/.584 -- neither Derek Jeter (who was just elected to the Hall of Fame on 99.7% of ballots) nor Hank Aaron (the all-time leader in total bases) ever had a single season with those numbers.
| Wins MVP | Doesn't win MVP | |
|---|---|---|
Batting average | .298 | .308 |
On-base percentage | .417 | .420 |
Slugging percentage | .582 | .584 |
WAR/162 games | 9.4 | 9.7 |
4. He's third all-time in WAR per 162 games
Trout has always been an analytics darling, but since WAR is a counting stat he's nowhere near the top of the all-time list. But if you look at WAR per 162 games, he's 3rd all-time behind only Babe Ruth and Josh Gibson.
Only 38 other players have ever had a season with 9.5 Wins Above Replacement -- Trout averages that for every 162 games he plays.
Most Wins Above Replacement Per 162 Games – All-Time
- Babe Ruth 10.5
- Josh Gibson 10.5
- Mike Trout 9.6
- Rogers Hornsby 9.1
- Barry Bonds 8.8
- Ted Williams 8.6
5. He debuted leads the majors in WAR since the start of 2011 season… and since the start of 2010… and since the start of…
Trout didn't debut until midseason but he still leads the big leagues in Wins Above Replacement since the start of 2011, and it's no surprise that he also leads the league in WAR since the start of 2010. He also leads the majors in WAR since the start of 2009, and since the start of 2008.
In fact, you can go all the way back to the beginning of the 2005 season and Trout still leads all major-league players in Wins Above Replacement, despite missing out on more than 1,000 games in that span.
Most Wins Above Replacement – Since Start of 2005
| Games | WAR | |
|---|---|---|
Mike Trout | 1,288 | 76.0 |
1,967 | 70.1 | |
Albert Pujols | 2,289 | 70.0 |
2,234 | 69.5 | |
2,270 | 64.7 |
6. He's one of 10 players all-time to lead his league in stolen bases and to lead his league in slugging
In his first full season in 2012, Trout led the majors with 49 stolen bases, and he has since led the American League in slugging three different times.
The last time a player pulled that off was Willie Mays, who last led his league in steals in 1959 and last led his league in slugging in 1965 -- so when Trout led the AL in slugging in 2015 he was the first player to pull that off in 50 years.
He's also one of just 10 players ever to post a 40-HR season and a 40-SB season in his career. Trout had 49 steals in 2012, and then hit 41 homers in 2015 and 45 in 2019.
7. He passed four more Hall of Famers in WAR this season
Trout has been out since mid-May but he continues to climb up the all-time WAR leaderboard.
Despite being limited to just 36 games so far, he already passed Hall of Famers Paul Waner, Johnny Bench, Sam Crawford and Paul Molitor in career Wins Above Replacement. And he has Ozzie Smith and Robin Yount firmly in his sights.
8. He has more Wins Above Replacement than Roger Maris and Bryce Harper… combined
Trout is 47th all-time among position players in WAR so he has already passed some truly great players. But he has more Wins Above Replacement than former MVP winners Roger Maris and Bryce Harper combined. He also has more than former MVPs Kirk Gibson and Willie McGee combined.
And he has a higher WAR than the combined WAR of former do-it-all shortstops Hanley Ramirez and Jose Reyes.
Career Wins Above Replacement
- Mike Trout: 76.0
- Hanley Ramirez + Jose Reyes: 75.5
- *Roger Maris + Bryce Harper: 74.1
- *Kirk Gibson + Willie McGee: 72.6
9. His worst season (by Wins Above Replacement) is better than the best season by a two-time MVP
Trout's lowest WAR in a full season (not counting the year he debuted, the COVID-shortened season last year, or this year) is 6.9, which he put up back in 2017 when he played only 114 games.
Juan Gonzalez, a two-time AL MVP winner for the Texas Rangers, never had a season with that many Wins Above Replacement. His best season by WAR was in 1993 when he had 6.5, which was his only career five-win season.
As recently as 2007 there was an MVP winner with a lower WAR than Trout's worst career season (Jimmy Rollins) and in 2006 both MVP winners had a lower WAR than Trout's career-low mark.
10. He has more HR at this point in his career than the all-time HR king did at the same point
And despite the power he's shown he's rarely mentioned as a threat to break the all-time home run record. But he could be on track to get there.
He has more home runs on the 10th anniversary of his MLB debut (310) than Barry Bonds did 10 years after he played his first major-league game (309).
Bonus: Trout just keeps getting better
He's still just 29 years old, with his 30th birthday coming up next month. He won Rookie of the Year in 2012 when he led the majors in runs and stolen bases and was second in the MVP voting. He was runner-up the following year and then won the award the next season when he led the league in total bases.
Since then he won two more MVP awards and was runner-up two more times. In 2016 he had his first 40-homer season and in 2017 he had his first season with an OPS over 1.000.
Then in 2018 he set career highs in on-base percentage (.460), OPS (1.088), OPS+ (198) and walks (122). The following year he had a career-high .645 slugging percentage and set a career high with a home run every 10.4 at-bats.
And before getting injured in May he was batting .333 with a .466 on-base percentage and an OPS of 1.090 -- all three of those marks would be career bests.
