The Trout File
Team: Los Angeles Angels
Height: 6-2
Weight: 235
Birthday: 8/7/1991
Average Exit Velo: 91.6 mph
College: N/A
Draft: 25th overall, 2009
Contract: Signed a 12-year, $426.5 million contract before the 2019 season
WAG: Jessica Trout
Children: Beckham
Betting Odds: +600 to win MVP, +1600 to lead the league in RBI, +1100 to lead the league in home runs
Record/Accomplishments:
- 10 All-Star selections, 2012-2019, 2021, 2022
- Three AL MVP awards, 2014, 2016, 2019
- Three All-MLB First Team selections, 2019, 2020, 2022
- Won the AL Rookie of the Year, 2012
- Nine Silver Slugger awards, 2012-2016, 2018-2020, 2022
- Member of the 30-30 club, 2012
Mike Trout just can't win
Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout is the best baseball player I’ve seen in my 21+ years of life. The quintessential five-tool player, he’s done just about everything one can do on a baseball field, and even as his skills wane a bit with age, he is the most respected hitter in baseball.
He’s done everything, of course, except for winning.
Trout has a single playoff series to his name, and no postseason victories. It’s not his fault. We know that already. But the legends of sports’ past at least came close. Dan Marino won eight playoff games in 18 tries. Chris Paul has made the finals. Connor McDavid…
Ah, there’s the comparison.
It’s clear the two were the top of their respective leagues at their peaks, shattering records and instilling more fear than anyone else in their sports. Both signed long-term deals with the team that drafted them.
Loyalty? Hubris? Contradicting priorities? Neither seem positioned to lift the trophy their peers dream of.
Cooperstown-bound? Sure. The greatest to ever do it? Maybe. But the only constant in the Angels organization, besides Trout himself, has been their inability to surround him with anything close to a championship caliber team. It’s a damn shame.