Another WAR record for Trout

[Oz27]

With his three-hit game in Toronto, Mike Trout became the Angels' all-time bWAR leader for position players. His 46.0 mark now tops Jim Fregosi's 45.9, using the Baseball-Reference WAR model. It's incredible how dominant he is on that list too. He is 11.1 WAR ahead of fifth place (Bobby Grich), more than double 10th place (Vladimir Guerrero) and more than three times ahead of 20th place (Devon White). All that is left for him now is highest WAR overall for the Angels, which is still held by Chuck Finley (52.2). Barring injury or a big decline, Trout will pass that next season.

Fangraphs WAR is even more generous to Trout. He has held the highest Angel position player mark there for awhile and is now 2.9 ahead of Fregosi and just 0.5 behind Finley for the overall lead.

One mark which he might pass in the remaining month of the season is the highest bWAR for a player through their age 24 season. He's now in second place, behind only Ty Cobb (46.7). Behind him on the list are some of the best players in baseball history. 3-10 on the list of position players with the highest WAR through their age 24 season is Mantle, Rodriguez, Griffey, Ott, Hornsby, Foxx, Arky Vaughan and Williams. Trout has topped all of them and might jump ahead of Cobb too.

So in case you hadn't noticed, Mike Trout is really really awesome.

[zenmaster]

He continues to amaze me. He goes through these mini slumps that I'd be concerned about with any other player but him. 

[ELEVEN]

Imagine if he ever had a solid lineup around him?

[Docwaukee]

cool.  

Of the top 30, the only guys who aren't or don't deserve to be in the HOF are Andruw Jones, Sherry Magee, Vada Pinson, Jimmy Sheckard and Cesar Cedeno

Trout owns two of the top 10 individual seasons.  There are only five other individual seasons in the top 30 after 1974.

 

[Troll Daddy]

Nice

but could careless 

[Docwaukee]

9 minutes ago, Troll Daddy said:

Nice

but could careless 

If you and Kevin got together and had a regular conversation, English teachers across the country would just start dropping dead.  

[Angelsjunky]

Here's another angle on Trout's accomplishments. He's going to finish this year around 47 fWAR in five plus years. For Hall of Fame purposes, it would be his sixth year--a player needs to have played in ten years to qualify, so Trout would need four more years to qualify for the Hall of Fame (2017-20), which is also the rest of his current contract.

What sort of level would Trout need to perform at to make it to the Hall of Fame, if he retired after 2020 (which we know he won't, but let's play make-believe)?

If we look at just WAR, and ignore for a moment those not getting into the Hall due to steroids or controversy, as well as players of the 19th century, it seems that players with 70+ fWAR are pretty much all in the Hall. In fact, the position players with the highest fWAR total from 1901 to the present (the era of two leagues)--not including ineligible, active, or controversial players--who have not been voted into the Hall of Fame are all below 70 fWAR. They are:

1. Bobby Grich 69.2

2. Larry Walker 68.7

3. Lou Whitaker 68.1

4. Tim Raines 66.4

5. Edgar Martinez 65.5

One player that might change that is Scott Rolen, who last played in 2012 and has an fWAR of 70.1.

Anyhow, once you get below 60 WAR or so it is hit or miss. So 70 seems like "almost definitely", 60 seems like "possibly."

For Trout to get to 60 WAR, he will need only 13 WAR over the next four years--or 3.3 per season. Basically he'd need to be Kole Calhoun for four more years. To get to 70 WAR, he's need a bit more, 23 WAR or 5.8 WAR. He'd need to remain at an All-Star level, but not necessarily a superstar.

Of course he won't retire after 2020. Chances are he at least remains at an 8+ WAR per year level. 8 WAR per year will bring him to around 80 WAR, which is a surefire Hall of Famer and in the top 40 position players of all time. Even if he starts declining in his 30s, he'll probably safely pass the 100 fWAR mark sometime in his mid-30s (say, in the 33-36 range) which would make him only the 20th hitter to do so (assuming Albert can't crawl his way for 9.1 WAR more). Then he'd have a real shot at 120 WAR, which would put him among the best of the best. Only 11 position players have 120+ WAR.

Anyhow, that's all a ways in the future. For now he remains the best player in the game, and by a good margin. Top fWAR from 2012-16:

1. Trout 44.8

2. Donaldson 30.6

That is just absurd. He's got more than double #11, Jason Heyward, during that span (22.3).

Maybe even more absurd is the top fWAR from 2009-16:

1. Trout 45.5 (in 778 games)

2. Miggy 44.7 (in 1183 games)

You add on three years in which Trout played a whopping total of 40 games and he's still got the highest WAR.

OK, I'll stop.

[Slegnaac]

I like Mike Trout as much as anyone. I enjoy watching him, run and field his position.  He is a superior player no doubt. 

But there is one stat that I really care about and it isn't subjective, it isn't a false stat.

World Series Rings as a member of The Angels. 

[Angelsjunky]

2 minutes ago, Slegnaac said:

I like Mike Trout as much as anyone. I enjoy watching him, run and field his position.  He is a superior player no doubt. 

But there is one stat that I really care about and it isn't subjective, it isn't a false stat.

World Series Rings as a member of The Angels. 

 

It isn't a stat. It's a team award or accomplishment (emphasis on team).

[Oz27]

1 hour ago, Slegnaac said:

I like Mike Trout as much as anyone. I enjoy watching him, run and field his position.  He is a superior player no doubt. 

But there is one stat that I really care about and it isn't subjective, it isn't a false stat.

World Series Rings as a member of The Angels. 

Trout shouldn't be blamed for the fact the organization which happened to draft him isn't competent enough to assemble a winning team around him. It's completely outside his control.

[Lou]

56 minutes ago, Oz27 said:

Trout shouldn't be blamed for the fact the organization which happened to draft him isn't competent enough to assemble a winning team around him. It's completely outside his control.

they've been a winning team since he was brought up to the major league club.

next 

[Oz27]

34 minutes ago, Lou said:

they've been a winning team since he was brought up to the major league club.

next 

What a strange and silly response. I was responding to someone saying all they cared about was WS rings and I said it isn't Trout's fault that hasn't happened. Pretty simple.

[Ohtaniland]

5 hours ago, ELEVEN said:

Imagine if he ever had a solid lineup around him?

Imagine if he played in a hitters ballpark? Milestones, you want milestones? Trout in the right situation and ballpark could break a whole lot of records. 

[Lou]

59 minutes ago, Oz27 said:

What a strange and silly response. I was responding to someone saying all they cared about was WS rings and I said it isn't Trout's fault that hasn't happened. Pretty simple.

I thought it was pretty obvious.

Simply put, 2014 

 

[Slegnaac]

2 hours ago, Oz27 said:

Trout shouldn't be blamed for the fact the organization which happened to draft him isn't competent enough to assemble a winning team around him. It's completely outside his control.

I wasn't attempting to place any blame, just pointing out that to me career WAR with the Angels is not as important as winning a ring with the Angels.

[Lou]

17 minutes ago, Slegnaac said:

I wasn't attempting to place any blame, just pointing out that to me career WAR with the Angels is not as important as winning a ring with the Angels.

sleg, you have to remember that some people can't make a post without casting blame on the FO our the manager.

also good to remember that these same people will never give credit to said people when something goes right

Edited August 27, 2016 by Lou

[ten ocho recon scout]

Mike trout is gonna catch these guys in WAR awards pretty soon

[kevinb]

4 hours ago, Dochalo said:

If you and Kevin got together and had a regular conversation, English teachers across the country would just start dropping dead.  

You rang? 

[kevinb]

34 minutes ago, Lou said:

I thought it was pretty obvious.

Simply put, 2014 

 

They went to the WS in 2014?

[Lou]

11 minutes ago, Kevinb said:

They went to the WS in 2014?

no 

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

6 hours ago, Slegnaac said:

I like Mike Trout as much as anyone. I enjoy watching him, run and field his position.  He is a superior player no doubt. 

But there is one stat that I really care about and it isn't subjective, it isn't a false stat.

World Series Rings as a member of The Angels. 

Chone Figgins has a WS ring as an Angel after only 12 PA, Ted Williams has zero WS rings. Who was the better player.

[Angel Oracle]

On August 26, 2016 at 6:42 PM, ten ocho recon scout said:

Mike trout is gonna catch these guys in WAR awards pretty soon

Is it just me, or are those hats two times too big on them?