Mike Trout will reach 1000 career games today

On July 8, 2011, Mike Trout was called up to replace an injured Peter Bourjos in center field. He made his major league debut that night, going 0-for-3. Just 19 years old, Trout would go on to play 40 games in 2011 and hit just .220 with 5 home runs and 30 Ks over 135 plate appearances.

Of course he didn’t stick in the majors, starting the 2012 season playing for AAA Salt Lake (mostly due to not starting this service time clock). When Trout DID come up at the end of April in 2012, he quickly put all of MLB on notice, hitting .303 in his first 30 games with 5 home runs and 8 stolen bases.

On April 17th, 2015, Mike Trout hit his 100th career home run at age 23 years and 253 days, becoming one of the youngest ever to reach that milestone - and he become the youngest ever to reach 100 homeruns and 100 stolen bases, beating Alex Rodriguez by 56 days.

Mike Trout wasn’t the fastest to reach 1,000 hits, but he did do it in his age 25 season, joining the likes of Ken Griffey and Miguel Cabrera, and becoming one of only 23 players in MLB history to reach 1,000 hits by their age 25 season.

Speaking of rarified air, Mike Trout hit his 200th home run during his age 25 season as well, joining Alex Rodriguez, Jimmie Foxx, and Mickey Mantle as the only American Leaguers to hit 200 home runs before their age 26 season.

As an Angel, Mike Trout is already 11th all time on the most games list, 5th in runs, 8th in doubles, 3rd in triples, 3rd in home runs, 3rd in walks, 3rd in stolen bases, 3rd in AVG, 1st, in OBP, and 1st in OPS.

He’s already a 6 time All Star, 2 time MVP, 5 time Silver Slugger, 99th in career offensive WAR, 9th in career OPS, and many more at only his age 26 season.

And guess what else?? Mike Trout’s LONGEST streak EVER of not getting on base is only 2 games. You can’t keep this dude off the base paths. Even in his abbreviated teenage, initial call-up, Trout never went more than 2 games without getting on base. Think about that next time you think he is “slumping”.

Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images

Let’s take a look at home Mike Trout stacks up through his age 26 season among the greats. Keep in mind, that Trout still has an entire half season left this year to add to these stats.

Most WAR by age 26 season
Ty Cobb 63.5
Michey Mantle 61.3
Mike Trout 61.2
Trout should easily pass Cobb before the season is over.

Mike Trout’s current WAR is greater than these HOFers (and many more) over their entire career

Harmon Killebrew 60.4
Mike Piazza 59.6
Vladimir Guerrero 59.4

Most Home Runs by Age 26 season
*Alex Rodriguez 298
Jimmie Foxx 266
Eddie Matthews 253
Albert Pujols 250
Mickey Mantle 249
Mel Ott 242
Frank Robinson 241
Ken Griffey Jr. 238
Mike Trout 224
Trout won’t top this list but he is certainly right in the mix and could land right around Albert Pujols and Mickey Mantle

When talking about Mike Trout, you HAVE to put it in the context of all time greats. Go ahead and look at this list of people playing in the same era as Trout:

Let that sink in a bit. Look at those numbers! Especially if you focus on WAR (overall value), Mike Trout has pretty much lapped everyone else. Jose Altuve is REALLY good and in 59 more games he has HALF the WAR of Mike Trout. Bryce Harper - less than half. You get the idea, and that is only a small part of this list.

This last table is fun. Just go ahead and look at Mike Trout’s career stats through 999 games. In the rows that follow are some all time greats at putting up numbers (some are THE best in that category) - and how Trout compares to them through 1000 games. 100 hits less than Pete Rose? Yep. A better OBP than DiMaggio? Yea. More home runs than Mickey Mantle? Of course. Almost as many runs at Rickey Henderson??

Mike Trout has already made his mark in the Angels org as well after 999 games:

AVG: 3rd (behind Guerrero and Carew)
Runs: 5th with 752. Garrett Anderson leads with 1024 runs over more than twice as many games.
Triples: 3rd
HR: 3rd. Trout has 222 over 999 games while Garrett Anderson ha 272 in 2,013 games and Tim Salmon has 299 over 1,672 games.
SB: 3rd. Success rates = 84%. The two guys ahead of him in stolen bases had lower success rates: Gary Pettis was at 80% and Chone Figgins had a 74% success rate
OPS: 1st

Here’s to your next 1000 games Mike Trout - May they be ever victorious AND as an Angel!!

Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images