MLB’s Top 100: Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels should be at top
By Alvin Garcia
We can go through a lot when it comes to the recent MLB’s Top 100 player list, like Fernando Tatis is the greatest shortstop on the list while committing 21 errors in the position last season. But the fact that Mike Trout is the #2 player right now is embarrassing. Not for Trout, but for the league.
Mike Trout has nothing to prove. He can retire right now and will still be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. His numbers say it by themselves. His career stats are mind-blowing, slashing .305/.419/.583 in 4,656 at-bats with an OPS of 1.002. These numbers from the nine-year All-Star are from 11 seasons played.
Not only that, Trout has a career WAR average of 9.6 and an offensive winning percentage of .797. In that last category, he is 12th on the all-time list. Trout has players ahead on that list that are just legendary, including Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, and Ty Cobb.
The good news, he is not done yet, so there is plenty of Mike Trout to be seen. Hopefully, in the playoffs as well.
It is true that, last year, the three-time MVP played 36 games. But, again, his numbers were at the MVP caliber before his calf injury.
Trout was batting .333/.466/.624 with an OPS of 1.090 and eight home runs. He even made the All-Star team.
His teammate had a great season for sure. Shohei Ohtani won over a dozen awards, while appearing on magazine and video game covers.
Ohtani slashed .257/.372/.592 with 46 homers, 100 RBI, and 26 stolen bases in 155 games. He struck out 189 times and walked 96 times.
He also went 9-2 in 23 starts on the mound as a pitcher with a 3.18 ERA and 156 strikeouts in 130.1 innings. He also hit 10 batters and allowed 98 hits and 15 homers in 2027 pitches.
Due to last season, Shohei Ohtani has become a household name, winning the MVP and now the #1 spot in the MLB Network’s Top 100 players list.
Well, Shohei Ohtani is not the best player. Mike Trout is.
Ohtani has only had one great season, 2021. However, his rookie year, 2018, was not bad either. He batted .285/.361/.564 with 22 homers, 61 RBI, and 10 stolen bases in 104 games. He struck out 102 times and walked 37 times.
On the pitching side, he made 10 starts and went 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 51.1 innings. He also hit one batter and allowed 38 hits and six homers in 853 pitches.
Mike Trout has been doing this for 10 years with consistent numbers and will start to break records very soon. So the fact that Trout is coming back from an injury and is slotted in number two does not make much sense.
It sure makes this list look like a popularity contest. But we get it … Ohtani is different. We haven’t seen a thing like this since Babe Ruth. Of course, we all hope that he keeps doing what he did last season. But he is no Mike Trout.
Next. Angels eat another bad contract with Upton decision. dark
This view is not a LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan situation. Mike Trout is the Michael Jordan of baseball, and that is a fact. Kids will wear #27 on their backs for a really long time.