The future of Mike Trout

[Peter_Spaeth]

IMO Kiner is not the best comp, because counting numbers have to be considered in context. Also Trout has 20 points on him in batting average. That said, Kiner may be a better hitter than he usually gets credit for, being often mentioned as one of the least deserving HOFers. He isn't that bad.

[RCMcKenzie]

Kiner was a great player. Attendance is part of the grade. Like Kiner, the Angels can finish in last place with or without Trout.

It's why I brought up the movie analogy. It's like political opinion to say it's not a comp.

[packs]

At 31 years old Trout has nearly twice the career WAR of Kiner and a higher career WAR than Bagwell. His OPS+ is almost 30 points higher than both Bagwell and Kiner as well.

[RCMcKenzie]

Originally Posted by packs

At 31 years old Trout has nearly twice the career WAR of Kiner and a higher career WAR than Bagwell. His OPS+ is almost 30 points higher than both Bagwell and Kiner as well.

Going by WAR, Trout is ranked as the 52nd greatest player of all time, below Wade Boggs and Chipper Jones. I think he is a top 100 great, but not a top 50.

Also, I agree that Kiner was not as good, but other than average, many of the numbers are very close. Kiner retired at 32 due to a bad back.

[packs]

His position today is still pretty impressive. He's right below Boggs and Chipper but they're not playing anymore and he's 31.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by packs

His position today is still pretty impressive. He's right below Boggs and Chipper but they're not playing anymore and he's 31.

By the JAWS metric he's already the 5th best CF of all time.

[RCMcKenzie]

I noted in a prior post that the new math is very kind to Trout. The baseball card numbers like Runs, RBIs, hits and homers have him way behind players like Aaron and Mays. I'm not saying he's Jose Vizcaino.

I hope he does well and plays as long as Rickey Henderson. I'm guessing his future is more like Britney Spears, where the next generation does not know who he is. Hopefully, we can revisit the topic as the years go by.