In 2009, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim … or Los Angeles (or whatever they like to call themselves these days), selected a high school senior by the name of Mike Trout with the 25th overall pick.
Exactly one year later, the Washington Nationals selected a college freshman by the name of Bryce Harper first overall. One to the American League and the other to the National League.
While Trout beat Harper to the Majors (2011), both guys played their first full MLB season in 2012, and both won their respective league’s Rookie of the Year awards. Since then, Trout has been named to six All-Star teams and has won two MVP awards, while Harper has been named to five All-Star teams and has one MVP of his own (though he seems well on his way to another, and another, and another).
Given their youth, dominance, and similar career trajectory (to an extent), these two players will be linked for the next decade, at least. But the extent that they’re keeping up with each other is starting to get weird.
On Monday night, Mike Trout surpassed an impressive milestone, notching the 1000th hit of his career on his 26th birthday (he hit a homer last night, to boot).
Congratulations on your 1,000th career hit, @MikeTrout! pic.twitter.com/TeSnQBYvVB
— Angels (@Angels) August 8, 2017
According to Angels.com, that makes Trout just the 10th AL player to reach that plateau before his age 26 season. And on top of that, he’s only the fourth player in Major League history to record 1,000 hits, 500 runs, and 500 walks in his age-25 season or younger (you may have heard of the other three guys: Mel Ott, Jimmie Fox, Mickey Mantle).
Here’s a look at his night:
Now, Bryce Harper is still 221 hits away from 1,000, but to be fair, he’s still just 24 years old. As a matter of fact, when he hit his 150th home run last night against the Marlins, he was exactly 24 years and 295 days old …
… Which is the exact age (down to the day) that Mike Trout accomplished the same feat:
Always linked: @Bharper3407 and @MikeTrout both hit career homer No. 150 at the EXACT same age: 24 years, 295 days. https://t.co/L4IdGOBGQm pic.twitter.com/IASrzEpj4L
— Cut4 (@Cut4) August 8, 2017
Here’s a look at the dinger:
Now, Harper just needs to add 221 hits in the next 1 year and 70 days, and he’ll continue to track right along Mike Trout.