Mike Trout is the most important player in Angels history.

That is an opinion, but only technically. At age 25, Trout is breathing down Chuck Finley’s neck when it comes to BRWAR. Less than 2 wins away from taking the crown at 52.2 vs 50.5. This just shows how amazing Trout is… but also how un-amazing the Angels franchise is.

Trout has 50.5 BRWAR that is 24th all time for CF in MLB history, .1 better than Hunter. However his peak is insane, and we do not know if this IS his peak or not, as it is 7th best in MLB history for CF. And this is WAR7, the best 7 seasons. That includes 2011 and 2017. Trout can easily move up to 5th best peak for a CF ever passing the most voted for HOF inductee ever in Ken Griffey Jr. Trout’s JAWS score right now, is 16th and that basically averages career BRWAR and peak BRWAR. There are 19 CF HOF in right now. And the average for them is 57.9, Trout has a 50.5…

JAWS isn’t the only thing that says that Trout is pretty much almost a HOF player RIGHT NOW either. Black Ink, the bolded parts of the back of the baseball card, has him already there. An average HOF player has 27 points in Black Ink (some stats are more impressive to lead in than others) right now, taking in 2017 of course, Trout has 29 points, or 69th all time.

Gray Ink, the top 10 in categories on the back of cards, also has Trout at near HOF levels. He has 120 points including this season, the average HOF player has 144. 170th all time and this one is much more friendly to older, long term players.

HOF monitor made by Bill James himself, determines how certain a player would get into the HOF with 100 being likely… which is what Trout has right now.

HOF standards rank players on a scale with 100 being the max possible with career stats and achievements, getting 50 is the average for a HOF player. Trout is at 33. 253rd all time. And not even 6 full seasons.

Yes Mike Trout deserved 5 MVPs but he got 2 at least and finished twice 3 times. Pretty good. How good? He has 3.96 MVP shares, 17th best of all time.

12 outfielders have won 5 or more Silver Sluggers including Trout.

Trout’s OPS+ is at 171 pretty good right? It is the best among active players. By a LOT. Votto is at 157 for his career. And taking into account all the players of all time, Trout is 7th. Look at it, he is surrounded by black and white photos!

Hey enough of these advanced stats, these are confusing, you say, well how about regular OPS? People love that right? Best among active players at .968. All time? 14th.

Well what about time as an Angel, that IS the most important thing right? Let’s list them then.

Runs, 6th. Hits, 15th. Doubles, 10th. Triples, 4th. Home runs, 5th. RBIs 11th. Walks, 6th. SBs, 5th

Extra base hits, 6th. AVG, 3rd. OBP, 1st. SLG, 1st. OPS, 1st.

To have a player at age 25 be this high in the team’s career stats is amazing.

April was also outstanding for Trout.

.364 AVG .443 OBP .707 SLG 1.151 OPS

It is his best April by far. Only his 2015 OBP is bigger than any of his 2017 rate stats at .447

Mike Trout’s April has 36 hits, the most in the AL, 9 doubles, 2 triples, 7 DINGRZ, 18 RBIs, 5 SBs. He is projected to have 108 runs and RBIs, 216 hits, 54 doubles, 12 triples, 42 DINGRZ, and 30 SBs. That is a projected 108 Extra Base hits. That is 3rd all time ahead of Barry Bonds’ 2001 season. And only behind Gehrig and Ruth.

2017 is the 57th season of Angels Baseball. The team isn’t THAT old, but it is not new by any means either. After all these decades you expect amazing players to play for the team right? To have a signature player that the whole MLB knows for being great and actually being HOF worthy if they aren’t in there already. Well, for the Angels… that is not exactly the case.

Taking into account only the 14 teams that have joined since the Expansion Era, the Angel’s best player in terms of BRWAR vs every other team’s best player in terms of BRWAR, the team’s best ranks 10th.

Only the Diamondbacks, Rangers, Rays, and Marlins have a worse BRWAR representative as their best on a mano e mano ranking. And Three of them are far younger than the Angels. What gives? In all of MLB the Angels rank 26th. That is unacceptable. Yes many have longer histories, but 10/14 of the youngest ones? 57 seasons?

Which is why Trout is so important. This season, if Trout is like Trout, not only will he be the best in terms of BRWAR for the Angels, but he could pass the Nationals/EXPOS and the Blue Jays to bring the Angels from 10th to 8/14 for Expansion Era and newer. It still isn’t that good, really, but it is better.

Remember, at the moment, the Angels do not have a cap in the HOF. Part of that is the Nolan/Angels feud, but part of it is the lack of excellent players primarily with the Angels. The franchise has had just over 1000 players play for them now and really had one real shot to get a cap into the HOF… and that ended up an ugly situation. There are only 4 franchises that do not have a cap in the HOF. The other three started in the 90’s (Rockies Marlins, Rays). Sure Vlad could end up with an Angels cap when he gets in, but it is not certain. And then what? He wore 27, do the Angels retire it? What about Trout? He already lapped him in terms of value and will be surpassing him in counting stats very soon. Do the Angels plan to retire both Vlad and Trout eventually with 27, Arte likes the yankees after all and they did it…

But if it doesn’t happen then what? There is no Angels player waiting to be inducted that was for certainly 100% Angel player first no doubt about it. And maybe the HOF likes Soth as much as the MLB announcers do and he gets in when he retires, but that is it. No hope to get one in… except for Trout.

That is why he needs to stay an Angel. That is why the team needs to win. Not just because of squandering talent, but because the Angels have never had a talent that was THEIRS that was HOF worthy. The closest has been Nolan Ryan which many people think of him as a Ranger, and Tim Salmon, who is Mr. Angel but never been to an All Star game and fell off the ballot with a few respect votes.

When people think of Mike Trout, he is an Angel. This team has never had that one HOF player that when people think of the team they think of him. There could be one now. Angel Management, Arte, and Victor Rojas. Do NOT make the same mistake twice. Do not let Mike Trout become the next Angels Nolan Ryan.

This is beyond winning and making money, this is getting respect in a nation that think Dodgers when it comes to Southern California. The Angels do not have a Tony Gwynn, A Robin Yont, a Jeff Bagwell, or a Ken Griffey Jr. Not yet. Trout could be that guy. Michael Nelson Trout can be that player that makes people 50 years from now lean back and grin wistfully.

"You should have seen Mike Trout play…"

And everyone knows that the player as an Angel first and foremost like the great teams have THEIR guy. You do not want this one chance to be blown, to have people think of another team in Trout’s second half of his career, or lots of teams as he goes around like Maddux did and ends up with a blank cap.

That could happen to Vlad. He could have a blank one.

But unlike Vlad, Trout was an Angel first. Unlike Nolan with the Rangers, he was a Met before the Angels.

Trout was drafted by the Angels. Trout went through the system. Trout is the one player that could be the Angels alone from draft day to HOF. If he goes away, it would be way, way worse. When Pujols left the Cardinals were devastated. But they have history and Stan the Man and so much. Not to mention Pujols… is not the same anymore.

What do the Angels have? A team name people think is long and redundantly convoluted, a player that people remember for the Rangers, a player that no one outside of the area know at all, and the greatest player that is playing at the moment… Don’t lose that one thing.

This has been April's Trout Facts (with some opinion). Sorry to end it on a potentially DOOMED note.