MLB: Three Players 25 and Under Destined for the Hall of Fame
By Jason Reed
Mike Trout
Mike Trout may be the only guy on this list that is hard to debate against. Sure, you could make the statement that if Mike Trout retired today he wouldn’t get in, but even that is a stretch for me. Mike Trout has played five years in MLB, and in each of those five years he was either first or second in MVP voting. He is already a five-time All-Star and two-time MVP, with the only thing eluding him being a championship. The Angels must get better if we are to see Trout on a playoff contender in the future. Either way, he will likely make it back to October at some point and actually win a game.
Since 2012 Trout has accumulated 47.0 WAR, according to Fangraphs, and has a 47.7 mark for his career. He is 20th in WAR since the turn of the century, despite missing essentially 11 years. He has slugged 168 home runs and collected 497 runs batted in, all while batting .306. Trout has swiped 143 stolen bases and scored 600 runs. He is the only player with over 140 home runs and stolen bases during that span, and is only second to Ian Kinsler in runs. That is due in large part to the fact that Kinsler played in all of 2011 while Trout only played in 40 games.
Heck, I know anything can happen, but it is so hard to imagine anything stopping Trout from becoming a Hall of Famer. Even if something did happen to stop his career he would get elected out of respect for his historic five-year run. Let’s say Trout has another five years like this, then five years of being about three-quarters as good, then five more of being half as good. That would give him about 140 career WAR, which would be fifth all-time behind Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, Willie Mays and Ty Cobb.