Since the 2019 MLB season ended, the last time Mike Trout won an MVP, he had played in 449 games out of 870 possible (excluding this season). That is just 51.6% of all available games that the Los Angeles Angels have been able to play during that 6-year stretch. It is hard to believe Mike Trout is in the midst of his 16th major league season, but it is true, and the last 6 were much different than the previous 10. The last six have been riddled with a ton of injuries and no real consistency year to year, as either a major injury or nagging/freak injuries have displaced him from the field consistently.
Trout is elite when he takes the field; that is no secret. Through this stretch, he has never had an OPS+ below 123, and that is the low mark by far. The only major difference from Trout that has occurred during this stretch is a precipitous drop in batting average. Falling from a .290 to .300 hitter to a .225 hitter in the last three seasons. With his limited availability, it makes sense, as it is hard to string together a consistent year when it comes to hitting for average when you are never allowed or able to get into a rhythm. Trout’s ability to accrue WAR (Wins Above Replacement) has also been an aspect that has been unparalleled by any of his peers besides Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. Trout has been unable to continue this success in the past 6 years as well. Trout Currently sits at 88.5 career bWAR (baseball reference WAR), which is about 14 of that career war has been within the last six years. Mike Trout will get to 100 career WAR one day, and will be MLB’s first player to get there since Albert Pujols, but Trout could have been a player who rocketed past 100 and landed in the top 10 all-time, along with Honus Wagner and Tris Speaker. Most likely, he will land inside the Top 15 all-time near Alex Rodriguez and Ted Williams.
Trout’s greatness is not debatable, but he will go down as one of the most frustrating careers of all time, due to the injuries in his late 20s and early 30s and a lack of presence in the postseason. This can be due to a lack of Angels’ success over the years, but that is a conversation for another day. Now we need to talk about Trout playing a full or nearly full and healthy season for the first time since 2019. Mike Trout is having a great start to the 2026 season, and although his batting average is .220, Trout is stealing bases, and his on-base percentage is nearly .400 due to the 17 walks that he has. Trout has five home runs, three of them coming in the last two games against the New York Yankees, and he went head-to-head with baseball’s best hitter in Aaron Judge in the first game of that four-game set, where they both hit two long balls. Trout’s success can be attributed to health and health alone; he has been in need of a long stretch of health, and I hope we will get that this season.
Trout finally has a good leadoff hitter in Zach Neto, and to be quite honest, this is great for him. He does not have to set the tone, and all of the pressure is no longer on him as he embarks on the 2026 season. He also has some decent protection in the lineup with Jorge Soler, who currently leads the major leagues in RBI with 18, and Jo Adell, who is finally realizing his potential as he enters his late 20s. Trout, having a respectable lineup around him, is all he has ever truly needed, as he put up three MVPs with minimal help around him for a while.
His baseball savant page doesn’t look quite like it may have ten years ago, but it is still loaded with red all over the place and is in the 95th percentile in xwOBA, xSLG, Barrel% (Very Important), Chase %, and Walk %. All of these numbers give us the opportunity to appreciate how good Mike Trout is in year 16 and at age 34. Baseball needs a good Angels season with Mike Trout leading the way for the team from Anaheim. Let’s hope the best baseball player of the last 15 years gets a chance once more at showing baseball fans who he is, even in year 16.
