#3. WAR7 FOR CENTER FIELDERS and ALL POSITION PLAYERS

Related to the two stats above, but worthy of its own entry, Mike Trout’s WAR7—or seven best seasons of rWAR, according to Baseball Reference—is 65.6, behind only Mays (73.5) and Cobb (69.0) among center fielders. He’s surpassed Mantle (64.7) and Speaker (62.5). In other words, his seven best seasons are only behind Mays and Cobb among all center fielders in major league history.

Here are the above Hall of Fame average (which is 44.7) center fielders by WAR7:

1. Willie Mays 73.5
2. Ty Cobb 69.0
3. MIKE TROUT 65.6
4. Mickey Mantle 64.7
5. Tris Speaker 62.5
6. Ken Griffey Jr 54.0
7. Joe DiMaggio 52.4
8. Duke Snider 49.5
9. Andruw Jones 46.4

Can he pass Cobb or Mays? Maybe Cobb but probably not Mays. As things stand right now, his seven best years according to rWAR are: 10.5, 10.5, 10.2, 9.6, 8.9, 8.2, 7.7. Let’s say he eventually replaces those bottom three with three 10 WAR seasons; that would get him to around 70 WAR7: ahead of Cobb, but still well behind Mays. The only way he beats Mays is if he has another performance spike.

But that's a tall order, especially now that 2020 will be abbreviated. That said, he does have a good chance of adding a few points to his WAR7.  Just one 9 WAR season gets him up to around 67.

How does Trout stack up against all position players?

1. Babe Ruth 84.8
2. Rogers Hornsby 73.7
3. Willie Mays 73.5
4. Barry Bonds 72.7
5. Ty  Cobb 69.0
6. Lou Gehrig 68.1
7. Ted Williams 67.9
8. MIKE TROUT 65.6

Meaning, considering how many of the all-time best players are center fielders, he  only slides to 8th. And he has a very good chance of passing Williams and Gehrig.

So let me say this one more way: Mike Trout has already had one of the eight or so best peaks in major league history. Let that sink in.

One final note on WAR7: this number won't go away or get lower. In other words, he's got this locked up for years to come and will forever be among the greatest peak players in major league history, no matter how he performs in the second half of his career.

#4. WAR THROUGH AGE 27 SEASON

The next stat is one of my favorites, but also one that has been talked about extensively: WAR leaders through age 27, Trout’s official age for the 2019 season (the age threshold is June 30 to July 1). For the next three installments, we’ll be using Fangraphs’ version of WAR (aka ‘fWAR’).

WAR Leaders Through Age 27

1. Mike Trout 73.4
2. Ty Cobb 68.8
3. Mickey Mantle 67.9
4. Rogers Hornsby 64.6
5. Jimmie Foxx 64.6
6. Alex Rodriguez 62.0
7. Mel Ott 61.5
8. Ken Griffey Jr 57.0
9. Tris Speaker 54.4
10. Eddie Collins 53.7

If you want to know why some consider Trout to be the best player in baseball history, and why that idea isn’t as ludicrous as it might sound, you can start by looking at this statistic. What it tells us is this: Trout has been the best position player in major league history through his current age.

Now certainly it is probable that eventually he’ll fall behind, especially as Babe Ruth—who  didn’t become a full-time position player until his age 24 season (1919), and thus Trout has a four-year head start on--catches up. And of course Bonds’ spike in his late 30s led him to be only one of two players, along  with Ruth, to have surpassed 150 WAR for his career.

With that in mind, what lies ahead? What does Trout need to do to keep the pace?