How Mike Trout is already the greatest player of all time(Alex)
Mike Trout was the 25th overall selection in the 2009 Major League Player Draft, and will go down as one of the greatest steals in draft history. Trout was drafted out of Millville Senior High School in New Jersey. He has flipped his $1.215 million dollar signing bonus for an annual salary of a little more than $34 million a year. In regards to his contract, the Angles are reportedly in talks with Trout about offering him a lifetime contract. Trout still has two years and $66.5 million remaining on the six-year, $144.5 million contract extension that he signed in March of 2014. Trout is considered the greatest player of all time, and he’s only 27. Mike has been in the league for 7 years, debuting in 2011. In 7 years Trout has “has hit .307/.416/.571 with 234 home runs, 221 doubles, 44 triples, 188 stolen bases and 637 RBI. He has made the American League All-Star team in each of his first seven full seasons. Not only that, but he has won the AL Rookie of the Year award, two AL MVPs (including three second-place and a fourth-place finish), two All-Star Game MVPs and five Silver Sluggers.” (Kyle Newport-Bleacher Report)
To start out Trout’s grand resume, he had arguably the greatest rookie season in the history of the game. However Trout did enter the Mlb in 2011, it did not count as his rookie season because he only played in 40 games at the end of the year. He did bat .220 with an obp of .281. This was only the beginning, in 2012 Trout played in 139 games out of 182 games, batted a whopping .326 with 30 bombs and 83 rbi’s. His on base percentage one .399, meaning Trout reached safely almost 4 times every 10 at-bats. In regards of how good this is for a rookie compared to veterans of the MLB, Trout was selected to the All Star game, took home a silver slugger and was voted as the American League’s rookie of the year. Trout then followed his historic rookie season with another all star campaign. He improved his OBP to a whopping .432, and improved in many categories throughout his sophomore season. He earned another all star alcolade and his second silver slugger. Trout has continually improved each season earning his the top spot in baseball each year.
Each year major league baseball comes out with pre season rankings for not only for the MLB teams, but for every player. As expected with Mike Trout’s excellence in the game of baseball, he has earned himself the top spot in the MLB since 2013. This is very challenging to do especially since Trout has dealt with minor injuries in past year, which has kept him out of the line up for several weeks. However, even in those years that Trout has been affected with injuries he has lived up to the pre season hype of being crowned as the number one player in the world by being in the top four of AL MVP voting since his rookie season. Two 1st places finishes, four 2nd place finishes, and a 4th place finish to be exact. At 27 years old, Trout is simply making history with his MVP finishes. This has never been seen in major league history, and Trout has a long way to go before he calls it quit.
With record breaking contracts being recorded in the 2019 offseason, it is quite crazy to think how much money Mike Trout could potentially make when his contract is up at the end of the 2020 season. Manny Machado and Bryce Harper were the latest All Star free agents to sign for big money. Machado recently signed with the San Diego Padres and Harper with the Phillies. Each earning contracts of 300 million dollars. To be exact, Machado is going to earn a whopping 300 million dollars over a 10 year period, while Bryce Harper will be exceeding that amount with 330 million dollars over a 13 year time span. With the market rising so has the amount teams willing to spend money on great players. It would only be necessary for Trout, who is the greatest player of his era at only 27 and who is in the conversation for being the greatest to ever play the game of baseball should receive the highest valued contract ever. Since Trout is the greatest baseball player of his time, he has endless opportunities of what he wants to do with his future. There has been many talks about him signing a lifetime contract with the Angles, or even a possibility of Trout asking for half a billion dollars because of the Harper and Machado signings. The paycheck does not stop there for Trout, he brings in another 2.5 million dollars from sponsors that includes Nike, Body Armor, and Rawlings. The paycheck that all great baseball players get is rewarding, but the love of the game is what keeps them playing for years and years.
Distractions are very visible in the game of baseball because of how long the season is. There’s an old saying that “Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical” (Yogi Berra). Mike Trout is one of the best players in the game to keep all the distractions of baseball off of the field. Trout is a very quite player who could do a lot more off of the field to boost his publicity and make more money. Instead he chooses just to focus on the game and his family, but also his fans. Trout chooses to focus strictly on the game of baseball, and it continuously shows when year in and year out Trout produces MVP numbers. An important stat that can be looked at to show how good Mike Trout is and how consistent he is each year is by looking at his WAR. WAR means Wins Above Replacement, and Trout posted a 10.7. To put this in perspective, only three other players have posted a higher war than Trout 25 years or younger. This players were Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Mickey Mantle. If you are not familiar with these names, their pictures are hanging up in Cooperstown in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Now to look at his most recent season in 2018, Trout posted a WAR of 10.2. Mike’s average WAR for his career is around 9, but this is low because of a season where Trout was injured for a good amount of the 162 games in the season.
Many argue that Trout cannot go down as the greatest of all time because of his lack of work in the playoffs. Trout has completed 7 whole MLB seasons and has yet to win a playoff game. This simply cannot be held against him in considerations for being the GOAT of baseball, because although one player can change the outcome of the game, it takes a whole team effort from the starters to the bullpen to even the subs to win a World Series. Critics cannot completely judge Trout off of only 4 games he has experienced in the postseason where he got swept by the Royals.
To Conclude, Mike Trout is the greatest player of his era. He puts up MVP numbers each year that proves his consistency will continue to stay steady. Mike’s WAR is progressing at higher rates than past players that are in the Hall of Fame. Trout seems to put his family, friends, fans, and baseball first and not get caught up in the publicity of being the best baseball player in the universe. This had led to extreme consistency, awarding him with accolades kids dream of. Trout has proved what he can do, and has improved each year leading him to become the greatest player ever to play the game of baseball.
