NEWSLETTER
Hopefully by now, you don’t need the rambling preamble on how good Mike Trout is at baseball. The quickest way there? He’s the best at baseball. Maybe ever. The funniest version? In Trout’s WORST MLB season, he won the AL MVP award. Enough said.
But his greatness wasn’t always so obvious!
For example, although Mike Trout was a first-round pick back in 2009, he went famously unselected until the 25th overall pick in the 2009 MLB Draft.
Here are the only teams that did not pass on Mike Trout in the 2009 MLB Draft: Dodgers, Cubs, Brewers, Mets, Phillies, Yankees, Rays, Red Sox.
Here are the teams that passed on him twice: Nationals, Diamondbacks.
Also, the Angels technically took Randal Grichuk before him.
— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) April 21, 2020
And it didn’t end there! Trout was Baseball America’s No. 85 prospect after the 2009 season and he ranked behind Bryce Harper in 2011, after making a rather rough big league debut (40 games): .220/.281/.390.
But still …
I don’t think that slow start can let the folks over at MLB The Show 2011 off the hook for this horrendous scouting report:
Mike Trout's scouting report from MLB the Show 2011 aged TERRIBLY.
(📸: /r/baseball) pic.twitter.com/7AByPoPlwX
— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) April 21, 2020
I can’t help but laugh at reality vs. expectations …
“If he goes yard more than a half dozen times, be thankful.”
Trout has hit a total of 285 home runs in his 8.5 year big league career, averaging 35 per full season. He’s never hit fewer than 27 in a single year, he hit 45 last season, and he was projected for 47 in 2020. I guess we should be thankful.
“A competent defender, makes the routine plays.”
His 13 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) since 2013 ranks 42nd in all of baseball and 7th among center fielders. And his overall Def rating (26.2) ranks fourth among center fielders during that time. He may not have any Gold Glove awards, but he is a plenty good defender.
“He can steal bases, but not as many as the games best thieves.”
Mike Trout has stolen 200 bases in his career, 49 of which came in his rookie season … when he led all of baseball. He had 33 steals the next season, and although he slowed down a bit thereafter (I’d argue the game simply changed), he’s got the ninth most stolen bases in MLB since 2012.
“Could be a decent regular, nothing more.”Â
Lol. Trout is a 3x AL MVP and four-time AL MVP Runner-up. The furthest he’s ever fished out of the MVP race is 4th, in 2017, when he slashed .306/.442/.629 with 33 homers … because he played only 114 games.
To be fair, Trout isn’t the only player The Show got *completely* wrong. Back in 2004, they argued that Miguel Cabrera (future Hall-of-Famer) “may be a career minor league outfielder.”
Oh and that’s not the only one! Check out “Career minor league outfielder” MIGUEL CABRERA! pic.twitter.com/SWoZeGX1ut
— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) April 21, 2020
Exposing old takes is fun.
