Mike Trout is Player of the Year, according to people that really know baseball

It’s still up in the air whether or not Mike Trout is going to win the MVP award this season, or if he’s going to get snubbed yet again. In a year where Mike Trout impressed us even more than usual, it’s astounding to think that it’s even up for debate, but the people voting on the MVP award are the same people that gave it to Trout for one of his less-impressive (by Trout standards) seasons.

It’s topsy turvy, is basically what I’m trying to say. But if you want some steadfast, baseball intelligence equilibrium, then the folks at Baseball America have you covered. See, BA knows their stuff, as they have some of the best and brightest analytical and evaluating minds in the sport. We go to them for takes on the current players in the game, and we go to them to learn who is the future.

Baseball America doesn’t have things upside down. They see it plain and clear: Mike Trout is the best baseball player in the world. Today, they announced that he’s their Player of the Year, the third time they’ve given him that title in five seasons. Mike Trout is amazing.

In their accompanying piece, which I highly recommend checking out, it starts out with the usual praise you’d expect, going over his league-leading walks, league-leading runs, and his insane bWAR (10.6), a category he’s led the league in for five straight years (the first to do so since a guy named Babe Ruth.

But the remarks just keep on coming:

The scariest thing about Trout’s performance is his capacity for improvement.

He hit .315/.441/.550 in 159 games this season, chipping in with 29 home runs, 32 doubles, five triples and 100 RBIs. He

stole 30 bases in 37 tries after making fewer than 20 attempts in each of the past two seasons.

Equally crucial, Trout lowered his strikeout rate to 20 percent while recording a career-best walk rate of 17 percent. This

allowed him to hit .300 for the first time since 2013.

They have tuned into a distinct problem that baseball writers and bloggers experience on a daily basis, and that’s the dwindling ways with which we can describe Trout’s greatness. So to not even bother trying, they instead turn to MLB players and coaches, getting opinions from the people that know the game best. Again, it’s a pretty neat read.

If you know your baseball, then you should know that Mike Trout is the best. It’s that simple. Baseball America knows baseball. Now we wait and see if everyday sports writers do, too.