With Another Lost Season for Mike Trout, a Sobering Parallel Emerges

Mike Trout won’t play baseball once more this 12 months. Final Thursday, Angels common supervisor Perry Minasian informed reporters that the three-time MVP, who underwent surgical procedure to restore the torn meniscus in his left knee on Could 3 and who had not too long ago begun a rehab task, had suffered one other tear of the identical meniscus. The 32-year-old slugger will want a second surgical procedure, and as soon as once more, he’s completed for the season at far too early a degree. The place we as soon as anticipated talking of Trout’s place in historical past alongside the likes of Willie Mays or Barry Bonds, his difficulties staying on the sector throughout his 30s carry one other famous person to thoughts: Ken Griffey Jr.

Trout performed in simply 29 video games this season, the fewest in his profession even together with his 2011 cup of espresso. He was off to a flying begin, albeit one thing of an uneven one, hitting 10 homers and stealing six bases. His dwelling run whole as much as the purpose of his damage put him on a 55-homer tempo, on the very least giving him a shot at topping his profession excessive of 45 homers, set in 2019. Because of a extra aggressive mindset, his stolen base whole not solely matched what he did from 2020–23 mixed, it put him on tempo for his first 30/30 season, as he simply missed one in 2013 (27 HR, 33 SB) and ’16 (29 HR, 30 SB).

Regardless of these gaudy counting stats and the milestones they may portend, Trout was hitting an out-of-character .220/.325/.541, pushed by an absurdly low .194 BABIP, 104 factors decrease than any of his seasons in addition to 2011, and 141 factors decrease than final 12 months, when he performed 82 video games and totaled 362 plate appearances. His batting common and on-base proportion have been respectively 43 and 42 factors decrease than the post-2011 profession lows he set final 12 months, however his .321 ISO was akin to the marks he put up in 2017, ’18, and ’20 (he had 241 PA that 12 months). Although he wasn’t hitting the ball as arduous as typical, his .273 xBA and .599 xSLG recommend that he would have wound up in additional acquainted territory, slash line-wise.

Alas, that is the most recent intestine punch for a once-dominant participant whose profession has taken far too many such blows previously. Since taking part in a minimum of 157 video games yearly from 2013–16, Trout hasn’t performed greater than 140 in a season, for quite a lot of causes:

Thumb, wrist, hamate, calf, again, knee, toes — yearly it’s been a special damage for Trout, with lots of them borne of rotten luck. He injured his left thumb sliding headfirst into second base, fractured his hamate whereas fouling off a pitch, and handled foot and again issues that — a minimum of based mostly on public studies — no different participant has skilled. His recoveries have usually appeared agonizingly gradual, notably as he’s aged, however the true shocker has been the abortive returns of the previous two seasons.

Final 12 months, Trout fractured his hamate on July 3, had surgical procedure to take away the bone (a remedy that’s speculated to speed up a return to play), then skilled such ache swinging the bat upon returning to the Angels on August 22 that he was shut down, and ran out of time to ramp up once more. This 12 months, for an damage that usually takes about 4 to 6 weeks to return from, Trout wanted greater than 11 weeks earlier than he was capable of head out on a rehab task, then performed simply two innings for the Angels’ Triple-A Salt Lake affiliate on July 23 earlier than popping out of the sport because of soreness within the knee. After making an attempt to loosen the joint up the subsequent day, he felt “a pop,” after which flew again to California for testing, throwing a wrench within the plans of my father and anybody else hoping to see him play for the Bees. An MRI taken that week confirmed no new damage, and on July 26, Trout mentioned that docs informed him that the ache and the pop he skilled was from scar tissue breaking apart.

The discomfort continued, nevertheless, and never simply because of the damage. On July 28, when requested about Trout’s progress and notably whether or not he had begun working once more, Angels supervisor Ron Washington sounded greater than a little bit exasperated: “It’s Mike, it’s important to speak to Mike. It’s all on Mike. How he feels, and if he can go on the market. We are able to’t pressure him on the market.” These phrases didn’t put on nicely on social media, although within the full citation, Washington offered extra context. Per the Related Press, he added, “He’s coping with one thing… He’s by no means had a surgical procedure like that. The scar tissue pop scared him. He’s going to ramp it up. I hope to have him quickly. To place a timetable on it, I don’t have it. However I hope to have him quickly.”

Nonetheless experiencing ache, Trout went for an additional MRI on July 31. This time, docs discovered a tear in a brand new spot inside his meniscus, requiring one other surgical procedure and ending his season. “Taking part in and competing is a large a part of my life. That is equally as heartbreaking and irritating for me as it’s for you, the followers,” he wrote in a social media publish:

pic.twitter.com/BPt1KRh0XZ

— Mike Trout (@MikeTrout) August 1, 2024

Mentioned Minasian: “No person desires to play extra. No person cares about this constructing, this fan base, this workforce greater than he does… He’s going to return again, have a standard offseason and are available again subsequent season and hit 70 dwelling runs and win MVP. E-book it.”

With the damage, Trout has now performed simply 266 video games over the previous 4 seasons. By the point this season is completed, that can quantity to only 41% of the Angels’ schedule for these 4 years, and 59% for the reason that begin of 2017, the equal of 96 video games in a 162-game season. That’s a lack of greater than three full seasons of taking part in time in an eight-year span. With six years and $212.7 million remaining on his contract, we absolutely haven’t seen the final of him, however it’s honest to surprise how rather more we’ll see, and notably how rather more greatness is left in a physique that’s been by a lot.

Colleague Dan Szymborski offered some slightly gloomy ZiPS projections to the Los Angeles Occasions‘ Invoice Shaikin for an article that mused about whether or not this string of absences would influence Trout’s Corridor of Fame probabilities. Shaikin, nicely conscious of my work — which has included charting the factors at which Trout reached the JAWS customary for middle fielders in 2018 (when he was nonetheless 26 years outdated!), and have become eligible for election based mostly on the 10-year requirement — requested my opinion as nicely. Word that this dialog befell hours earlier than Trout took the sector in Salt Lake Metropolis, when his return to the Angels nonetheless appeared possible.

Given his three MVP awards and 11 All-Star choices, I don’t assume Trout has something to fret about close to the Corridor, I informed Shaikin. Extra:

“I can’t actually think about what’s occurred to him over the previous a number of years and judging him so harshly that he could be disadvantaged,” Jaffe mentioned. “I might see him not being a unanimous choice or not being a 99.9% choice — possibly a 95% choice, as a result of there are at all times some who assume they need to withhold their blessing, simply as they do for anyone this aspect of Derek Jeter.

“However I don’t assume it’s going to be an actual impediment to his choice.”

Throughout our dialog, I famous that BBWAA voters have elected high-WAR gamers with extra modest counting stats in recent times reminiscent of Larry Walker, Scott Rolen, and Todd Helton, none of whom got here wherever shut to three,000 hits or 500 dwelling runs. I additionally in contrast Trout to Griffey. “His attendance was sporadic in his 30s,” I informed Shaikin, referring to Griffey’s accidents, “however every part he did in his 20s actually acquired him in that place.”

A refresher is so as. Griffey, who like Trout debuted within the majors as a 19-year-old, performed in 88.7% of his workforce’s video games throughout his first 12 seasons (1989-2000), a span masking his total tenure with the Mariners and his first 12 months with the Reds, his age-30 marketing campaign. By that time, he had made 11 All-Star groups, received an MVP award, and completed within the high 5 within the voting 4 different occasions, however he additionally landed on what was then the disabled listing 4 occasions throughout these years. He missed 26 days because of a fracture in his proper hand in 1989, 16 in ’92 because of a proper wrist sprain, 80 in ’95 because of a left wrist fracture (suffered whereas making a spectacular catch in opposition to the outfield wall), and 23 in ’96 because of a hamate fracture, for which he underwent surgical removing.

With the Mariners unwilling to signal Griffey to the long-term megadeal he sought, the workforce traded him to the Reds — the workforce for which his fatehr starred — on February 10, 2000 as soon as he agreed to a record-setting nine-year, $116.5 million contract. However after taking part in 145 video games in his first season in Cincinnati, Griffey started to interrupt down in alarming trend. He performed simply 111 video games in 2001, lacking 47 days because of a left hamstring pressure, after which simply 206 video games from ’02-04 because of accidents to his proper hamstring (three separate stints), proper patella, proper shoulder, and proper foot. For that four-year span, he performed in simply 48.8% of the Reds’ video games, a median of 79 per 12 months. From 2005–08, he was extra sturdy, averaging 131 video games a 12 months however lacking time because of accidents to his proper hamstring (once more), proper foot (once more), and proper toe; he nonetheless had energy, however his protection and subsequently his total worth eroded significantly.

By the tip of that stretch, Griffey was by his age-38 season and had declined to the purpose of turning into a league-average hitter whose poor protection offset even that worth. Along with his contract set to run out after 2008 (choosing up his $16 million membership choice was a moot level), he was traded from the Reds to the White Sox, which allowed him to succeed in the postseason for simply the third time in his profession. After that, he returned to Seattle for a victory lap that lasted about one 12 months and two months; he was nudged into retirement in June 2010, when he was hitting .184 with no homer in a part-time function that had been additional diminished after he was caught napping within the clubhouse throughout a recreation.

Griffey completed his profession with spectacular counting stats: 630 dwelling runs, 2,781 hits, and 83.8 WAR (the Baseball Reference model, which I’ll use by the remainder of this piece). But there’s little query that if he’d stayed wholesome — and if the 1994 gamers’ strike and ’95 lockout hadn’t occurred — he would have gone a lot increased, probably even reaching 3,000 hits and 700 dwelling runs.

Proper now it’s robust to see Trout even attending to Griffey’s precise hit and residential run totals given his personal illnesses. He has 1,648 hits and 378 homers by his age-32 season, a degree at which Griffey had 2,039 hits and 468 homers. But Trout not solely already has 86.0 WAR, however he blew previous Griffey within the JAWS middle area rankings in late 2019, taking on fifth place earlier than his thirtieth birthday. He’s nonetheless in fifth, however regardless of having the third-highest peak rating for the place at 65.1 — trailing solely Mays’ 73.5 and Ty Cobb‘s 69.0, and barely forward of Mickey Mantle’s 64.7 — he’s acquired his work reduce out for him to succeed in Mantle’s 87.5 JAWS. Actually, he’ll want about one other 23.9 WAR to take action, which proper now seems to be an extended shot.

Slightly than merely citing Dan’s slightly miserable projections unadorned, I requested him to run some rest-of-career ZiPS projections for Griffey as an example how his projected remaining totals fluctuated, after which to do the identical for Trout. We’ll begin with a projection following the 1994 strike, Griffey’s age-24 season. With 40 homers by the Mariners’ first 112 video games, he was in sizzling pursuit of Roger Maris‘ single-season dwelling run file of 61:

That’s fairly near spot-on for Griffey’s precise remaining hit whole, brief within the homer division, and manner brief within the worth division because of the greater-than-expected decline of his protection. Although he received 10 Gold Gloves and was tremendously invaluable early in his profession — main the league in WAR thrice with a excessive of 9.7 in 1996, and ending second twice as nicely — he remained in middle area for much too lengthy; in actual fact, he was a minimum of 10 runs under common seven occasions within the 9 seasons from 1999–2007 regardless of lacking a lot taking part in time. He ought to have change into a nook outfielder early in his profession in Cincinnati, although serving because the designated hitter for an AL workforce would have been a greater match, for the reason that NL solely used it for away interleague video games.

Right here’s the place issues stood after 2000, simply earlier than Griffey’s legs started falling aside:

The projected remaining hit whole is even increased; I’m undecided what Griffey’s odds of reaching 3,000 have been at that time, however he had a shot, and likewise with respect to 700 and even Babe Ruth’s whole of 714 for the homers. No matter his odds at these milestones have been, they have been crushed by his 2001–04 absences. Throughout these years, he managed simply 273 hits and 63 homers, and his ceiling virtually fell on his head as if he have been swinging from the chandelier, à la Bumblebee Man:

From that time, ZiPS not solely initiatives Griffey to fall nicely in need of 2,500 hits and 600 homers however to supply simply 1.8 remaining WAR in dribs and drabs unfold over 5 seasons of half time play. Fortunately, in 2006 and ’07 alone he was productive sufficient to exceeded these remaining totals whereas taking part in in 253 video games, which improved his outlook for the rest of his profession:

Griffey ended up falling in need of these remaining projected numbers save for the WAR. However past the projections, it’s price remembering that he really rebounded from that brutal four-year stretch with a few comparatively productive years that paved the best way for him to complete out his contract largely unimpeded. I don’t need to overstate the worth of these years; he netted simply 0.6 WAR in 2006–07 because of his protection, which was a honkin’ 19 runs under common at the same time as he shifted to proper area. From 2002–10 he totaled simply 5.7 WAR whereas padding his counting stats to the purpose that he was a near-unanimous decide for the Corridor, setting a file with 99.3% of the vote (437 out of 440) on the 2016 poll

All of that’s price taking into consideration after we see what’s occurred to Trout’s projections. Right here’s how the longer term taken care of he received his second MVP award in 2016:

On the time, Trout projected to blow previous 3,000 hits, strategy 700 homers, and end with a WAR in Mays-Cobb nation — the sixth-highest whole of all time, together with pitchers. However by the point he introduced dwelling his third MVP award to cap that trio of shortened-but-still-exceptional seasons — throughout which he averaged 129 video games, 39 homers, and eight.2 WAR — his ceiling had fallen, too:

Nonetheless, 600 dwelling runs is a plateau solely 9 different gamers have reached, and whenever you mix that with 300 stolen bases, the corporate is much more spectacular: Mays, Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez. Sadly, the pandemic-shortened season and Trout’s first actual writeoff one with the calf damage not solely made that mixture seem like unattainable, it lowered his remaining WAR projection by greater than 30 wins:

From the post-2016 projection to the post-2022 one, the forecast for Trout’s remaining totals fell by 864 hits, 156 homers, and 49.7 WAR. Sadly, as we now know, issues haven’t gone nice since then, and people totals have fallen even additional:

Ouch. Trout now initiatives to fall in need of the 500-home run mark and to barely cross the two,000-hit one, which as I’ve famous a number of occasions on this area has been all-important in relation to voters, because it has serves as a proxy for profession size and productiveness. Till the election of Tony Oliva through the 2022 Golden Days Period Committee, no participant whose profession befell solely within the post-1960 growth period had been elected by both the writers or the committees. I do consider extra exceptions are on the best way, as Dick Allen (1,848 hits) and Andruw Jones (1,933) have gotten near election, and Chase Utley (1,885) made a stronger debut than I anticipated, although the one I’m actually ready for is 2027 candidate Buster Posey (1,500).

Given the size of his contract and his drive to compete, I strongly suspect Trout has greater than 363 hits and 67 homers left in him even when ZiPS doesn’t. Whether or not he collects these with the Angels or one other workforce is much less my concern, although I don’t assume there’s a soul on earth who would begrudge him a contemporary begin in one other group, with one other set of docs and trainers, to say nothing of teammates and executives.

Earlier than this ridiculous and soul-crushing string of accidents, and earlier than he started to be overshadowed by teammate Shohei Ohtani, Trout appeared as if he would wind up on the shortest of lists of the best gamers of all time, within the firm of Ruth, Mays, Bonds and possibly only a few others. On a prorated foundation, he nonetheless has a case, as he’s averaged 9.2 WAR per 162 video games, increased than Bonds (8.8) or Mays (8.4) if not Ruth the place participant (10.5), although that final grim ZiPS projection above would drop him to 7.9. In the long run, if he merely winds up within the firm of Griffey or Albert Pujols — one other Angel with a disastrous contract for the again half of his profession — he’s nonetheless going to be remembered for placing collectively a completely jaw-dropping decade-plus of pure greatness, and whereas at occasions we’ll lament what might need been, that will likely be sufficient.