What Makes Mike Trout So Good…And Why He Can Get Better

The greatest ballplayer that the game has seen in over a decade is doing things the game hasn't seen in years. Mike Trout is an elite talent that the game continues to undervalue. I look at the numbers behind the All-Star Centerfielder for the Los Angeles Angels.

Since his first full season in the MLB in 2012, Mike Trout has dominated every aspect of baseball. He is the epitome of a five-tool player, posting numbers such as:

.326 AVG (5 years of .300+)

41 HR (5 years of 30+)

111 RBI (4 years of 90+)

49 Stolen Bases (3 years of 30+)

The 2012 Wilson Defensive Player of the Year has won 2 MVPs, been to 7 straight All-Star Games, and has won the Hank Aaron award, among other accolades. What makes Trout so good and so hard to adjust to? Let’s look at the numbers behind his dominance.

Getting on Base

Trout is exceptional at not only getting hits but drawing walks. The past 3 years, his averages have been .315, .306, .309. These numbers are superb in their own right. However, where Trout excels is drawing walks. He has already walked 99 times this season in 109 games. He hasn’t walked less than 90 times since 2014. Over the same time span mentioned above, his OBPs have been .441, .442, and an incredible .459 this season. He has been intentionally walked 20 times this season, already a new career high. Also, Trout is 12th in the league in pitches per plate appearance at 4.21 P/PA. In short, Trout is not only getting hits and taking walks but making pitchers work every at bat, the mark of a true superstar.

Driving the Baseball

Mike Trout’s ability to drive the baseball is what sets him apart from many other players in baseball. Currently, Trout has 30 home runs, 21 doubles, and 3 triples. These numbers are great, but the bigger story is what Trout is not doing: hitting the ball on the ground. In 482 plate appearances, Trout has made an out on the ground only 70 times and only grounded into 5 double plays all year. His GO/AO ratio, the stat comparing groundouts to flyball outs, is 0.71, good for Top-15 in the league as well. Trout will make out, but when he does he is not rolling over and driving the ball into the dirt, which are prototypical rally killers.

Getting on and Getting Over

The most overlooked aspect of Trout’s game is his ability to steal bases. He already has 3 seasons of 30+ stolen bases. He has already swiped 186 bases out of 220 attempts, good for roughly 85% success rate. Trout is not going to hit a home run or triple in every plate appearance. Being able to take extra bases puts more stress on pitchers and creates more scoring opportunities for the Angels as a team. Of course, the Angels struggle at bringing Trout around third but that is for another story. Trout’s ability to turn singles in doubles and doubles to triples on the base paths is a unique ability for someone with his power and something many overlook when breaking down the greatness that is Mike Trout.

Wait…He can get Better?!

Mike Trout is the greatest talent baseball has seen in the last decade. No player has had his combination of speed, power, and fielding ability in the outfield since Barry Bonds in the late 1990’s before he shifted focus to home runs and steroids and away from all-around ballplayer. Trout shows no signs of doing anything of the sort. While he has no weakness in his game, he does have ways to improve. His biggest flaw is his strikeout rate. For his career, he carries a 21.4% K rate, which is not bad by any means. This season, he sits at 20.5%. If Trout can work his K rate down towards 17% per year, he will become an even more unstoppable force at the plate than he already is.

In short, Trout is On Pace to be an All-Time Great

At only 27, Mike Trout is well on his way to becoming a hall of famer and one of the greatest to ever play the game. His career WAR of 61.9 is already good for 165th all-time. In his 7 full years in the majors, he has compiled a 61.5 WAR, an average of 8.8 WAR per season. If he plays at this pace for another 8 years, a likely occurrence, followed by a gradual decline, Trout’s career WAR may exceed 150, putting him in the same categories with names like Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays. The most incredible thing about Mike Trout? He is the most undervalued superstar in the game due to an underperforming Angels team that has made only 1 playoff experience since Trout has made his way to the big leagues while playing in a small market. If/when Trout hits the open market in 2020, I can only imagine the amount of money he will be paid. If he continues his dominance, he will be worth every penny and more.