Los Angeles Angels: Is Mike Trout the Biggest MVP Snub in History?
By Matt Weyrich
25-year old Los Angeles Angels phenom Mike Trout is once again the best player in baseball, but won’t be receiving an MVP award. The BBWAA has only awarded Trout the honor once in his career. Is that doing him a disservice?
Mike Trout is very good at baseball, but you probably didn’t need to read it here to figure that out. He has a .307/.404/.561 career slash line, 166 home runs, 586 runs scored, and 137 stolen bases. Oh, and his 25th birthday was last month. For the last five seasons Trout has been the class of the sport.
Since his first full season in 2012, Trout has been a league of his own. His 46.6 bWAR is far and away the highest mark in the league (Josh Donaldson is a distant second at 32.4), leaving no doubt as to who holds the title as the best active player. How is it then, that across nearly five full seasons, Trout has only won MVP once?
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In 2012, Trout’s rookie season, the Angels’ center fielder fell victim to Miguel Cabrera and his Triple Crown campaign. The following season, Cabrera impressed enough once again to sway voters his way for a second consecutive selection. In 2014 Trout led the American League in strikeouts, yet still managed to finally capture the award. Last year, Josh Donaldson’s monster season that fueled the Blue Jays to the postseason forced the BBWAA to cast Trout aside once again. This season, with the Angels spiraling towards the AL West basement, it appears that Trout is going to be on the outside looking in once the votes are tallied.
No disrespect to Cabrera, Donaldson, or any of the candidates contending for this season’s award, but none of them are Mike Trout. He is burdened with the caveat of playing on a terrible team, keeping voters from seriously considering him for the honor. If Trout is the best player in the league, yet continues to be snubbed from receiving the honor that pays respects to such a player, then how legitimate is this award?
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Trout isn’t going anywhere any time soon, and who knows, maybe the Angels will be able to turn things around next season. However, the forecast does not look very bright in Anaheim’s near future. Trout is most likely going to continue carrying the team on his back and then some. There just won’t be much hardware in his trophy case to show for it.