G.O.A.T Wins MVP, Again
With spring training in full swing the race for Major League Baseball (MLB) Most Valuable Player (MVP) is coming in hot and Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels is the front runner for this year’s MVP award.
People may consider it too early to claim an MVP winner for the up and coming season, but when Mike Trout is in the prime of his career, it is never too early. Mookie Betts who posted a .346 average while adding 42 doubles, five triples, 32 homers, 129 runs, 80 RBIs and 30 stolen bases, per MLB.com, edged out Mike Trout last year for the award. Coming off such an incredible season it is hard to believe Mookie Betts will post such overwhelming numbers two years in a row which opens the door wide open for Trout.
Mike Trout is the Lebron James of baseball, and it would not be a surprise if he won MVP every year, but the MLB has to make it interesting by reluctantly handing it to a select few who enjoy a “better” year than Mike Trout. Trout has finished top five in MVP voting since 2012 (the year he entered the league) and has finished first or second in six of those years. He is nowhere near a one season wonder as his consistency is unprecedented compared to every other player in the MLB.
Trout has posted nothing but sensational numbers since getting pulled up to the big league roster in 2012 and is consistently discussed as the face of the MLB even though his painfully average Angels have only made the playoffs once in his tenure.
Trout’s Wins Above Replacement (WAR) since 2012 has reached 53.7 which is 16.6 points ahead of any other player since that time, with Ty Cobb being the only other great to post a more impressive stat before turning 26 years old.
Although Trout fell short to Betts in the MVP polls last year it did not stop Trout from receiving the “Player of the Year” award. He led the majors with posting an incredible 1.088 OPS (on-base plus sulgging percentage) which is the best since 2006. Trout also finished first in on-base percentage, third in sluging percentage and fourth in home runs, normally with the year he had the MVP would be handed to him on a silver platter.
If this isn’t compelling enough, he also did this without making a single error in center field which makes him the only one who can claim such a feat. Coming off an incredible year, or seven years of that matter, it is absurd to believe Mike Trout won’t be putting another MVP trophy in his case when 2019 comes to an end.
To top things off Mike Trout was voted as number one player on MLBs top 100 players entering 2019 for an incredible sixth time. At only 27 years of age Mike Trout is on a tear to becoming arguably the best player of all time which would make him the favorite for MVP everytime he puts on the Los Angeles Angels uniform.
