Photo By Keith Allison
Los Angeles Angels centerfielder Mike Trout is the best player in baseball. He’s been the best in the game since 2012, when the 20 year old produced an incredible 10 fWAR despite spending the first 20 games of the season in the minor leagues. Trout backed that up with another 10 win season in 2013. While Troy Tulowitzki is having a phenomenal 2014 season, Trout has matched him in the WAR column, and is primed for his third straight season of 10 WAR.
It’s clear Trout has made some changes to his game in 2014. He’s not running as much, and he’s hitting more fly balls in an effort to produce more power. While there were some doubters after Trout had a mortal month of May, he’s put them to rest with a sensational June.
If there was a reason to worry about Trout over the first two months of the season, it was his elevated strikeout rate. He fanned in 26 percent of his first 242 plate appearances, which represented an increase of seven percentage points from the prior year. A .275 ISO and a .420 in-play batting average in the first month of the season allowed him to produce a .321/.403/.596 line even with a 27.4 percent strikeout rate. In May his batting line dipped to .263/.356/.495 with a 24.6 percent strikeout rate. That’s a very good line for most hitters, but for Trout it was billed as a slump.
Overall Trout has a .308/.399/.604 batting line for a 178 wRC+. While he hasn’t attempted as many stolen bases, he’s swiped nine bags without being caught. He’s playing his usual excellent center field defense, and has totaled 4.8 fWAR, tied with Tulowitzki for the most in the major leagues. Trout has hit 16 home runs, and his ISO of .296 ranks fourth in the major leagues.
His fly ball rate of 44.8 percent is an increase of nine percentage points from the previous year and appears to be part of a concerted plan to hit for more power. Trout has pulled 37 percent of batted balls, compared to 30 percent last year, and his production on those hits has shot up. Last season Trout batted .489 with an .830 slugging percentage on pulled balls. This year he’s hitting .507 with a .915 slugging percentage when pulling the ball. At the same time, he’s also maintained excellent numbers when hitting the ball to center and right field.
Mike Trout is incredible, and it’s easy to forget that he’s not yet 23 years old. Last month baseball fans might have gotten caught up in the amazing season Tulowitzki is having or the awesome power of Giancarlo Stanton. In June Trout is telling us how foolish we were for doubting that he is the best player in baseball.
