Mike Trout entered the game on Wednesday vs. the Oakland Athletics leading MLB in WAR (Wins Above Replacement) for the second straight year. He currently has a WAR of 9.9 which is 2.2 higher than the next best mark of 7.7 by Pittsburgh’s star Outfielder Andrew McCutchen. The 22 year old had a 2012 campaign that many analysts believed was so great that the chances of a repeat were slim to none. Mike Trout has responded with a 2013 season that in many ways is more impressive than his previous season in the big leagues.
For starters, there has never been a player in Major League history to post another 10 WAR season in his age-21 season. In fact, there have only been seven players in the history of the game to post back-to-back 10 WAR seasons. Trout would join an illustrious group of baseball immortals with Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Rogers Hornsby and Ted Williams to accomplish such a feat.
With only a couple weeks remaining, Trout is one double and one triple shy of being the only player to join the 10-20-30-40 club (10+ triples, 20+ home runs, 30+ stolen bases and 40+ doubles). The 22 year old also leads the Major Leagues with 100 walks and his current .436 OBP would be a franchise record for the Angels. With Mike Trout’s home run against Sonny Gray on Tuesday night, Trout became the only player in AL history with 25 HR’s, 30 steals and 100 walks in the same season.
All Mike Trout has done this season is improve upon his ‘historically great’ 2012 year. He is the face of a franchise that has many players with numerous accolades. As the season winds down with the Angels falling short of making the postseason, appreciate the opportunity to watch Mike Trout. After all, we may not see another player like him in our lifetime.