Mike Trout is Insanely Good
Mike Trout is currently hitting .343/.407/.603.
That's obviously great, but not all that uncommon. In the history of baseball, there have been 224 player seasons in which a player hit at least .300/.400/.600 while qualifying for the batting title, if we include Trout.
But how many of those guys played CF? Just 28 of those seasons were put up by guys who played 50% of their games in CF. Those 28 seasons were put up by just 14 players.
Trout
Edmonds
Giles
Griffey
Lynn
Mantle
Snider
Mays
DiMaggio
Averill
Wilson
Simmons
Speaker
Cobb
Wow, what a list. But, oh yeah, Trout is also leading the league in SB with 39. Including Trout, in just 4 of those seasons did the guy steal at least 20 bases and 40 just twice -- Trout will soon make it 3.
Those seasons were Willie Mays in 1957 at age 26 and Ty Cobb in 1911 at age 24. Mike Trout is 20.
I'm not saying this is one of the greatest seasons ever (though I certainly could), but at minimum this is one of the most well-rounded seasons in the history of baseball. And it's being done by a 20 year old rookie.
I know Trout is getting hype. But however much he's getting, it's not enough.
Re: Mike Trout is Insanely Good
I don't think you need to hedge it. He is having one of the greatest seasons ever.
Re: Mike Trout is Insanely Good
Re: Mike Trout is Insanely Good
Don't forget about the very good defense too (and some of the awesome catches he's made).
Despite what some have claimed, I don't see Harper ever being as good as Trout.
Re: Mike Trout is Insanely Good
Is this the surest a rookie has looked like a HOF candidate, provided he doesn't get injured or abducted by aliens or something?
Re: Mike Trout is Insanely Good
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Wonderful Monds
Is this the surest a rookie has looked like a HOF candidate, provided he doesn't get injured or abducted by aliens or something?
Ichiro
Re: Mike Trout is Insanely Good
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Degenerate39
Ichiro
Special case for him, IMO. Trout is different.
Re: Mike Trout is Insanely Good
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Degenerate39
Ichiro
But Ichiro is an alien.
Re: Mike Trout is Insanely Good
Quote:
Originally Posted by
jojo
But Ichiro is an alien.
He also appears to have the ability to clone himself, which is weird and bad.
http://l.yimg.com/a/p/sp/editorial_i..._foul_ball.jpg
Re: Mike Trout is Insanely Good
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Johnny Footstool
I don't think you need to hedge it. He is having one of the greatest seasons ever.
I only hesitated to make the claim because I hadn't looked at the data that way. However, I went to B-R and took the top 200 rWAR seasons of all-time (by position players). Using that, Trout comes in at #139 as of today. Projected to the end of the season, he's in the 15-20 range with a WAR around 11.0.
Of course, he missed the first month of the season. If you standardized performances to WAR per 600 plate appearances, here's your top 10.
Code:
Rk Player Age Year Tm rWAR/600
1 Babe Ruth 28 1923 NYY 11.8
2 Barry Bonds 37 2002 SFG 11.4
3 Babe Ruth 25 1920 NYY 11.3
4 Rogers Hornsby 28 1924 STL 11.2
5 Mike Trout 20 2012 LAA 11.1
6 Babe Ruth 26 1921 NYY 10.9
7 George Brett 27 1980 KCR 10.8
8 Babe Ruth 24 1919 BOS 10.7
9 Mickey Mantle 25 1957 NYY 10.7
10 Carl Yastrzemski 27 1967 BOS 10.6
Note, this doesn't give The Babe credit for pitching, so he's probably missing a few years on this list. But yeah, by the end of the year, if he keeps it up, Trout will have had one of the greatest seasons of all time. Notice that this list has 8 guys between the ages of 24-28, one guy who was roided out of his mind at age 37 and Mike Trout, who is 20.
Trout is probably having a a "lucky" year -- e.g. putting up results that are higher than his "true talent". But the same can be said of everybody on that list. If there's a guy who looked like a HOFer, it's him.
Re: Mike Trout is Insanely Good
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Wonderful Monds
Is this the surest a rookie has looked like a HOF candidate, provided he doesn't get injured or abducted by aliens or something?
Junior.
Don't get me wrong, Junior's 1989 season was no where near Trout's season this year, but the kid did generate a lot of excitement upon his arrival. His lineage did help.
Re: Mike Trout is Insanely Good
I am not even sure this is the best age 20 season in baseball history, or even my lifetime. Different environment of course, but Arod did hit .358/.414/.631 with a league leading 141 runs scored, 123 RBI, 54 doubles, a triple and 36 home runs while playing shortstop.
Re: Mike Trout is Insanely Good
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dougdirt
I am not even sure this is the best age 20 season in baseball history, or even my lifetime. Different environment of course, but Arod did hit .358/.414/.631 with a league leading 141 runs scored, 123 RBI, 54 doubles, a triple and 36 home runs while playing shortstop.
Missed that. I would be inclined to agree, but I would like to see those numbers in a more neutral run scoring environment.
Also, gotta question if A-Rod ever did any of it clean.
Re: Mike Trout is Insanely Good
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Wonderful Monds
Is this the surest a rookie has looked like a HOF candidate, provided he doesn't get injured or abducted by aliens or something?
"Johnny Bench. A Hall of Famer for sure." Ted Williams.
Re: Mike Trout is Insanely Good
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Wonderful Monds
Missed that. I would be inclined to agree, but I would like to see those numbers in a more neutral run scoring environment.
Also, gotta question if A-Rod ever did any of it clean.
Even assuming he was completely clean, the run environment was a huge deal. Just looking at a quick proxy, ARod's OPS+ was 161. Trout is at 182.
From an overall "runs produced" standpoint, ARod likely had the better season. But if you care about production above replacement, it wasn't.