By Jonathan Northrop, AngelsWin.com Senior Writer

Clayton Kershaw actually inspired me to write this, not Trout. If you haven't noticed, Kershaw is off to a great start, with a 1.89 ERA through 6 starts, including 1.2 fWAR and a 9.71 K to 1.18 BB rate in 38 IP. Kershaw may be a bit under-appreciated these days, as he hasn't been among the very best pitchers since his peak in 2011-16, after which he dropped a level from best pitcher in the world to merely top 10 or so. But even then, since 2017 he's had a 2.68 ERA and averaged 4.9 WAR per 200 IP...not quite his 2011-16 level (2.06 ERA, 6.8 fWAR per 200 IP) but still among the better pitchers. What I find particularly impressive about "latter day Kershaw" is that he seems to overpower batters less, while still knowing how to keep the runs down...meaning, he's gotten smarter.

Meaning, Kershaw is under-appreciated if you over-emphasize WAR. He's not dominating in the same way he used to on pure stuff and peripherals, but he's still putting up stellar ERAs.

As far as career fWAR is concerned, with 74.5 he's now tied with Warren Spahn in just about exactly half the innings at 27th all-time. He's almost certainly going to pass Robin Roberts and Kevin Brown to finish the year at 25th, behind Justin Verlander. If he has another decent year next year, he'll be in the top 20, though will be hard-pressed to reach the top 10 (95.7 fWAR).

OK, Trout update. He's been pretty good this year, but clearly not peak level. He's at 1.5 fWAR through 29 games, good for 9th in the majors. But he hasn't really gotten hot with the bat yet, so expect a spike at some point and with a chance at finishing 1st for the first time since 2019.

Trout passed Joe DiMaggio earlier in the year and is at 83.6 for his career, 34th all-time. He's going to pass a bunch of guys this year:

25. Cap Anson 91.2

26. Al Kaline 88.9

27. Albert Pujols 88.8

28. Wade Boggs 88.3

29. Roger Connor 86.2

30. George Brett 84.6

31. George Davis 84.6

32. Chipper Jones 84.6

33. Adrian Beltre 83.8

34. Mike Trout 83.6

35. Joe DiMaggio 82.6

As you can see, Trout needs 5.3 WAR to pass Albert Pujols, which he should do--barring injury--sometime in the second half. He has a chance at becoming the 26th hitter in major league history to reach 90 WAR by year's end.

More on this, including updates along the way in the thread below: