"Maybe a small part of it is that he hasn't yet obviously had the usual end of career decline,"
That's a lot of it. It also helps that Trout is good at everything. He's a great hitter, a great base runner, and, well, an average-ish fielder.
Trout has been in the big league for four full seasons.
Year All-time WAR rank (position players only)
2012 22nd
2013 100th
2014 292nd
2015 87th
2016 212th (so far)
If he keeps up his current pace his 2016 season will be worth 9.8 WAR, tied with Ty Cobb (1909), Nap Lajoie (1910), Ron Santo (1967), Larry Walker 1997), and George Sisler (1920), for 63rd best position player season of all time. That's really, really impressive.
This will be fun. Some hall of famers and where their best season ranks all-time among position players:
Ruth 1
Yastrzemski 3
Hornsby 5
Gehrig 7
Ripken 11 (tie)
Wagner 11 (tie)
Cobb 14 (tie)
Mantle 14 (tie)
Mays 16
Musial 18
Morgan 19
Williams 21
That's all of the hall of fame position players who have had a season better than Trout's best. The only non-HOF player with a season better than Trout is Bonds. Let's keep the list going a bit (and add non-HOF players).
Collins 30
Foxx 30
Yount 30
Boudreau 37
ARod 37
Sosa 41
Banks 44
Rosen 48
Speaker 48
Petrocelli 52
Harper 56
Henderson 56
Trout's best season is better than any season Jimmie Foxx, or anybody else on this list, ever put up. Let's skip down a few spots.
Carew 68
Griffey 68
Pujols 68
J. Robinson 68
Schmidt 68
Jackson 76
Beltre 82
If Trout keeps up his current pace for the rest of the year he'll have two seasons worth more WAR than these guys.
Aaron 87
Biggio 87
Brett 87
Turner 87
As it stands he's already got two seasons better than any season these guys put together. It'll be three if keeps up his present pace for the rest of the year.
Baker 100
Heilmann 100
Snider 100
Cash 107
Frisch 107
Giambi 107
Rolen 107
Vaughn 107
He's already got three seasons as good or better than these guys' best. It'll be four if he keeps up his present pace. And remember after this season he'll only have five full years in the big leagues.
And that one season from Trout that's not turning up on these lists? That's the year that he won the MVP award.
He hasn't had his decline phase yet, and that will pull his rates down. But Trout is really super historically good. He is often compared to Mantle, but by WAR Trout leads Mantle in age 20, 21, and 22. They were basically tied at age 23. It's not until Mantle's age 24 season that he posted a WAR more than marginally higher than Trout will at the same age (this is Trout's age 24 season).
|