Mike Trout needs his own thread

that was quite the performance.

Temporarily joining Ruth, Bonds, Greenberg, Foxx, Williams, Gehrig, Hornsby in the 1.000 OPS club.

I noticed that too the other day. I don't think it'll be that temporary, though, if you look at his career progression (new career highs four years running)--I could see him still being there three years from now.

Another way, I guess, of saying he'll breeze right past the notion of peaking at 27. Of course, I guessed wrong with Pujols when he headed over to the Angels.

Pujols was already having tons of problems with his foot before he left the Cardinals, even, and was much less of a complete, well-rounded player than Trout is. I wouldn't make any bets on Trout putting up 1.000 OPS in a few years, but he seems like he has a much better chance of it than anyone

also he has the advantage of a juiced ball

An oddity, looking at his career box: his seasonal high in total bases is 339, which I'm willing to bet would be the lowest mark if you looked at the 50 greatest hitters ever as measured by OPS+ or whatever you want. This is in no way a knock--it can easily be explained by all the walks he takes and the time he's lost to injuries. Just a quirk of the numbers.

(Oh--and if you eliminate people like Dave Orr, because I've never heard of him.)

Didn't have to look far for another walking-machine with fewer: Votto.

is it too late to make a bet with you, though? ;)

keep in mind i only bet with space bux

I have already plowed through over $40 billion in my off-the-cuff I'd-be-willing-to-bet posts.

Apart first half of Bonds’ career, Trout is the only one who is a legit great a defensive player in that list. Makes u think.

Forgot Hornsby yikes!

i suspect ruth's pitching was more valuable than hornsby's defense

Hitting and pitching didn’t happen much at the same time that being said (iirc)

Within 0.1 of Bellinger on Baseball Reference's WAR leader board. I know the season doesn't really start for some until he takes over the #1 spot, so Opening Day is imminent.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2019-batting-leaders.shtml

happy 28th

1173 G, 1301 H, 278 HR, 198 SB, .306/.419/.582, 176 OPS+, 71.7 bWAR, 72.9 fWAR

Penciled him in for 12 more HR this year and tried the Favourite Toy calculator: 14% chance at 763 HR. Which is probably a little light, seeing as his HR rate may continue to climb for another two or three seasons.

Mike Trout is now tied with Derek Jeter in career WAR via both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference. pic.twitter.com/OC6vat7vQY

— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) August 18, 2019

youngest to 200 HR/SB

https://www.mlb.com/news/mike-trout-makes-history-with-200th-stolen-base

Mike Trout just hit a baseball so far that Fox Sports West had the home run graphic up before the ball even landed. pic.twitter.com/dgSw1xALT6

— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) September 4, 2019

.@MikeTrout, BIG FLY. 😱 pic.twitter.com/aWex1Ximr5

— MLB (@MLB) September 5, 2019

Jaffe

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/mike-trouts-season-is-over-which-completely-sucks/

semi-doppelganger MIKE FISH, discussed on EW podcast yesterday

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=fish--000mic

me: i want mike trout
mom: we have mike trout at home
at home:

Trevor Bauer tells me Mike Trout has an exemption from the league for therapeutic HGH for thyroid issue, and that players know this and generally don't care-- says there's a whole complicated process to qualify for such an exemption from MLB.

— Daniel Roberts (@readDanwrite) January 17, 2020

fwiw he tweeted yesterday that he hadn't heard anything about trout specifically
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EOgrTA4XsAIZkZd.jpg

it'll be annoying if this ends up being a thing that follows trout everywhere

i know he had a thyroid issue before his rookie year that needed treatment, so if his exemption goes that far back i imagine it's legit and not "MLB protecting its best player"

this really brings out the whole pro sports dumpster igniters

Yikes. This is a chicken/egg slippery slope as PED abuse is aligned with thyroid issues, see Jason Giambi circa 2004.

Also reminscent of theories of Lance Armstrong's early career testicular cancer being a byproduct of his first doping programs and his numerous subsequent TUEs allowed as he was a survivor.

:(

stop it, world

can’t think of a reason someone would need growth hormone for a thyroid issue...??

will carroll tweeted that thyroid issues aren't even covered by TUEs

bauer's friend tweeted this and then deleted both tweets:

Update: Bauer now, through his P.R. people, tells us that he said or meant to say that "IF" Trout has this exemption, he has a league-approved medical exemption. Bauer clarifies that he doesn't know whether Trout has one or not.

and then:

MLB and the MLBPA jointly released the following statement saying no player has ever received an exception for HGH under the current program.

Basically, statements about Mike Trout using HGH and having an exemption for it are false. pic.twitter.com/EaND5zfC1n

— Kyle Glaser (@KyleAGlaser) January 17, 2020

Lol I think he was maybe just repeating something that Scott Brosius’ kid tweeted yesterday.

dang, didn't baseball twitter just get sonned by someone claiming to be beltran's niece, like yesterday?

yo is it true baseball twitter got sonned by a alleged burner account after a mlb beef??????

beltran's niece actually turned out to be the burner of annoying twitter person IncarceratedBob

do keep up everyone, this is all very important

One of the cooler things Mike Trout does every year: instead of having his Millville HS number retired, he comes back and gives it to the new captains every year. https://t.co/iNbhQOqIMA

— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) February 6, 2020

Mike Trout hitting rockets isn’t exclusive to the baseball field. pic.twitter.com/tuEyIzxqQ5

— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) March 2, 2020

absolute liftoff

does anyone want to know what Trout's standout skill is?

If someone wants to know what Trout’s standout skill is, then, all you have to do is tell them he is more than twice as good at hitting pitches that are in the shadow of the strike zone as any other hitter in baseball. Tell them about how tough it is for hitters to hit pitches in the shadow of the zone, and how most of them cost their team piles of runs in those situations over the course of a season, and that Trout adds more value in what are supposed to be his least-advantageous situations than most hitters do in any situation, period. Maybe tell them about run expectancy, and how we’re not necessarily measuring Trout’s value in actual runs, but in perceived runs added in a context-neural, all-things-equal situation.

well, i think my job here is done.

Wait, that’s way too clunky. How many times are you gonna use the word “situation,” buddy? Sheesh. Instead, say Trout’s standout skill is dread. Say that there is a cliché that athletes and coaches often use about how if you come up with the right game plan and execute it, then you’ll be successful, only Trout is impervious to game plans. He succeeds against the types of pitches hitters are expected to succeed at, but he also succeeds where hitters are supposed to fail, and does so to an extent that is not replicated by anyone. Because of that, pitchers have nowhere to turn. Baseball is a zero-sum game; if Trout is never at a disadvantage, then the pitcher always is.

alright then, that does clarify things, so i'll just be-

Or you can just say he’s the best player in baseball. That stands out pretty well, too.

...

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/where-mike-trout-stands-out-most/

those stats are really cool. I have to find sortable tables for all those zone stats

i like them too. now i'm curious who wins the Vladimir Guerrero Sr award for best waste pitch hitter

the world demands to know. looks like they’re sourced from baseball savant but I can’t figure out how to find them

i couldn't find it on their website either, but found it through google:

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/visuals/swing-take?playerId=545361&year=2019

as usual at baseballsavant, they don't make it easy to sort or customize their data, and they bury interesting features. for example, you can switch the filter to pitchers, and i think that gives you a look at how different pitchers do in different areas of the strike zone, which is interesting in a different way

yeah, i think that's right. because it shows gerrit cole as having a -58 run value, with most of the surplus (or deficit i guess) coming from pitches in and on the edge of the zone, which makes sense for him

lol, i guess all pitchers do pretty well on the edge of the zone, duh.

Mike Trout Is Now Fully Qualified for the Hall of Fame

so at least we have that

on paternity leave