Mike Trout is Still the American League Most Valuable Player

Despite the tragic news that was announced by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim yesterday afternoon about, Mike Trout having to miss the remainder of the season due to surgery on the Morton's neuroma in his right foot, Mike Trout is still by far and away the favorite to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award. Despite the fact that the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim will miss out on the postseason once again, Mike Trout is by far and away the best player in baseball and the fact that the Angels will miss out on the postseason, should have no hinderance on his chances at winning the American League Most Valuable Player Award.

As you can see, Mike Trout is quite an icon and someone that is the most recognizable face across the game of baseball. In fact, if you were to ask a young group of children who their favorite baseball player was, Mike Trout would likely be mentioned quite a few times. Not only does Trout embody the athleticism and stardom it takes to be a major league baseball player at a high level, he also continues to be a step above every one of his peers.

When you start to look around the American League and begin to identify potential candidates for the Most Valuable Player Award, you might look at Alex Bregman of the Houston Astros, D.J. LeMahieu of the New York Yankees, or maybe Rafael Devers of the Boston Red Sox. Regardless, all three of those guys are talented players, but not nearly as good as Mike Trout is. That is not to be disrespectful to any of those three individuals or take away from their personal accomplishments. It's just an illustration of the impact that Mike Trout has on the field and why he should still be the favorite to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award - despite being on the shelf now for the remainder of the season.

While the news about Mike Trout having to have surgery and having to miss the remainder of the season wasn't easy to swallow for any baseball fan, there's still a lot to celebrate about the individual accomplishments and the stats that he put up over the course of this season. Furthermore, even if Mike Trout was healthy, he would miss out on yet another postseason, as mentioned previously, but once again that should be no knock against Trout and what he can do as a baseball player.

For starters, one of the best ways to measure exactly how valuable a player might be over the course of a season is to look at their WAR (Wins Above Replacement) value. Among all American League qualified position players, Mike Trout put up a (8.6) WAR this season which is over a full point better than the aforementioned Alex Bregman, who has a (7.4) WAR so far this season, and currently ranks second in that category. Given the type of presence that Mike Trout plays in the entire game of baseball, if you were to expand that out to include every qualified position player across the league, Mike Trout would still come in first.

What's astonishing is when you begin to look at Mike Trout's WAR by year and rank them by highest to lowest. If you were to do that exercise, Trout's WAR for this season would rank sixth overall with his highest WAR occurring during the 2013 regular season, when he finished the year with a (10.2) WAR. That's a bit of a surprise given the fact that Trout finished the season with (45) home runs, two shy of the Angels franchise record, and with the type of numbers that he put up throughout the season. Regardless, even if it was a bit of a dip for Trout personally, he still ranks first in the American League and the rest of baseball, further adding to the argument that he should still be the favorite to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award.

Next, another important component that likely will be on the minds of voters when they survey the landscape of potential American League Most Valuable Player Award winners is how often they get on-base and what their on-base percentage looks like. As such, Mike Trout finished this season with a (.438) on-base percentage and a (.436) Weighted On-Base Average (wOBA). If you take those two values and compare them to other qualified position players in the American League, you will find that Mike Trout finished the season as the leader in both of those categories. In order to do that, it takes some serious plate discipline and an instinct for knowing when the right time to hit is, which is a credit to the offensive abilities of Mike Trout.

Furthermore, Mike Trout continued to be one of the most disciplined hitters in all of baseball this season, another true nod to his overall offensive abilities. Mike Trout finished the year with a walk percentage of (18.3%) with (110) walks over 600 plate appearances. The aforementioned Alex Bregman currently ranks second in walk percentage at (17.0%), while Daniel Vogelbach of the Seattle Mariners, Justin Smaok of the Toronto Blue Jays, and Carlos Santana of the Cleveland Indians round out the Top 5. Even in an era where the baseball is flying and there is a lot more contact, Mike Trout was still a very disciplined hitter.

Beyond those numbers, let's take a look at Mike Trout's overall power as a next selling point, which might be another factor that many voters take into consideration when trying to elect who the American League Most Valuable Player Award should be awarded to. For this season, Trout finished the year with an Isolated Power value of (.353), which is the highest that value he has ever had over the span of his nine-year major league career. The next highest value in that category, over that span, occurred in 2017 when Mike Trout finished the season with a (.323) Isolated Power value.

Compared to other qualified offensive players around the American League, Mike Trout once again finishes first in that category. Coming in second is Nelson Cruz of the Minnesota Twins at (.323). For those that don't remember, Isolated Power is significant because it strives to measure what a players raw power is and takes into account the number of occasions where a player hit for extra bases. Once again, Mike Trout proves just how great of a player he is and how high his offensive abilities are, if you can even measure how high they truly are.

It's not just offensive categories that Mike Trout excels in either. According to the metrics, Mike Trout also happens to be a very talented base runner. Compared to other qualified position players around the American League, Mike Trout ranks third in overall Baserunning with a (7.3) value. It's still very impressive considering that the lowest value in that category is (-6.4) and belongs to Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers. As Mike Trout was progressing through the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim farm system, many scouts always were impressed by his speed and overall instincts on the base paths and felt as though those things added yet another component to Trout's already impressive style of play.

To end the discussion, consider this. If you were to take Mike Trout away from the lineup for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Angels probably wouldn't have nearly as good of a record as they currently do. Granted, it's a record that forces them to miss out on the postseason once again, but one that wouldn't have nearly as many wins if it weren't for Mike Trout. Currently, the Angels have a (68-82) record on the year which is good enough for a (.453) winning percentage. Considering that Mike Trout finished this season with a (8.6) WAR, that means that he accounted for nearly (9) of those wins for the Angels. If he missed the entire season or wasn't a part of the Angels team, then they would likely have a record closer to (59-91 or 60-90) right now. As such, yes their current record is terrible, but it would be even worse without Mike Trout.

In addition, a discussion can be made about the overall subtraction of any potential American League Most Valuable Player from their respective squad. For example, we already know that if the Angels didn't have Mike Trout or lost him for an entire season, their ball club would be even more terrible. However, if you look at the other potential American League Most Valuable Player candidates, the same argument can't necessarily be made. For instance, if the Houston Astros didn't have Alex Bregman, they likely wouldn't be as strong of a ball club, but it wouldn't be a big blow because of the depth they have in their lineup. The same case can be made for D.J. LeMahieu and how the New York Yankees would perform without him in their lineup. Yes, the Yankees have had a significant amount of injuries this season, but they would still have plenty of depth to cover his absence.

Potentially the only other candidate in a similar situation to Mike Trout would be the aforementioned, Rafael Devers of the Boston Red Sox. Although, Devers is going to have a hard time garnering enough votes for serious consideration for the American League Most Valuable Player Award. However, for discussion purposes, if you took Rafael Devers out of the Boston Red Sox lineup, they likely would struggle more than they have this season and might not have nearly the same type of offensive juggernaut overall. Despite that though, Boston would still have power bats in guys like Mookie Betts, J.D. Martinez, and Xander Bogaerts to rely on.

Although there's no guarantee that Mike Trout will win the American League Most Valuable Player Award for the third consecutive season, a serious argument still can be made for him to be the leading name for the award based on all of the criteria outlined above. Some voters might take into consideration these two weeks that Trout will miss when deciding who to vote for, but it should be no knock to him or the overall talent level that he possesses everyday on the field. Furthermore, some voters might not consider Trout because the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim will miss out on the postseason again, but the Angels wouldn't be as good of a ball team without Trout as mentioned previously, even if they were still in the postseason mix.

As such, Mike Trout is a once in a generation type of baseball player and finished this year putting up phenomenal numbers once again. He might be in the peak of his baseball playing years right now at the age of 28, but Mike Trout continues to get better with each passing season and that means that baseball needs to continue to recognize one of the greatest players to ever play baseball with another American League Most Valuable Player Award nod.