Mike Trout's case among baseball's all-time greats

Mike’s stats just don’t look as impressive as those compiled by the greatest of the generation before or the generation that has come after him. But Trout’s numbers stick out like a sore thumb amongst his contemporaries.

2011-2021 Highest OPS, min. 5,000 Plate Appearances

1. 1.002 Mike Trout
2. .930 Joey Votto
3. .916 Bryce Harper

OPS is a very useful tool to evaluate players. It is simple to calculate (on-base percentage added to slugging percentage) and—according to one scout, gives you about 90% of what you need to evaluate players.

The trouble with OPS is that different eras have different run scoring environments. Look at the MLB average for OPS.

• In 2000, teams scored 5.14 runs/game, and the average OPS was .782.
• In 2014, teams scored 4.17 runs/game, and the average OPS was .700.
• In 2023, teams scored 4.62 runs/game, and the average OPS was .734.

From 1997-2007 (when there were 9.63 runs/game), there were 14 players that had an OPS over .930.

From 2011-2021 (when there were only 8.82 runs/game), only one player (Trout) had an OPS over .930

Trout’s numbers look good in any generation. But just a few years earlier similar or superior numbers were put up by Barry Bonds, Todd Helton, Manny Ramirez, and company. And when Mike began losing time to injuries, numbers from Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge seem to have wiped Trout’s greatness away.

Let me put Trout’s numbers into a bigger blender.

wRC+ is an advanced stat that will put all offense into proper context. The beauty of weighted runs created plus is that it is a statistic that weighs each offensive action properly but also adjusts performance based on park effects and league average.

It tells you how much better or worse a player was than league average, which is 100 during each season.

For example, Trout had a 168 wRC+ in his first 25 games of this 2026 season (through Thursday), meaning his offensive production is 68 percentage points better than league average during that year after controlling for his home park.

That’s superstar level for any player, much less a player thought to be on the way down.

In 2025, Trout played 130 games and had 556 plate appearances. He slashed .239/.393/.552 with 26 HR, 64 RBI, and 73 runs. It seemed, well, a little above average. His OPS was .797 (well above league average) and his wRC+ was 120. FanGraphs calls this season “above average.” But it was far from Trout’s “above average.”

Because Trout played in a pitcher-friendly home park during his prime -- as well as a low run-scoring environment -- his numbers, in proper context, are among the greatest ever produced.

Highest wRC+ career (min. 7,000 PA)

1. 194 Babe Ruth
2. 187 Ted Williams
3. 173 Barry Bonds
4. 171 Lou Gehrig
5. 170 Mickey Mantle
6. 170 Rogers Hornsby
7. 166 Mike Trout
8. 164 Ty Cobb

Also, this: Ruth and Williams and Bonds and Gehrig and Cobb are left-handed batters, and Mantle was a switch-hitter. Trout is one of the greatest right-handed bats ever.

According to wRC+, Trout’s offensive numbers are superior to that of Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Joe DiMaggio, and former teammate Albert Pujols.

I know what you’re saying. You’re wondering why I used 7,000 plate appearances. I could answer that it’s 12 seasons of 583 plate appearances.

Or I could tell you the truth. That Trout qualifies for 7,000 plate appearances, but Aaron Judge (wRC+ 177) does not (just over 5,000 PA). Yes, I wanted to cut Judge off the list. Judge is indeed younger, but not as much as you would think.

Judge turns 34 on April 26. Trout turns 35 on August 7. Yes, Trout has been oft injured in recent seasons, but he started a whole lot earlier than Judge.

Trout has missed a lot of games in recent years, but he has played a lot, too. In fact, this week he passed another “fish”—Tim Salmon (1,672 games)—for second place on the franchise list. Garret Anderson (2,013 games), who passed away last week at the age of 53**,** is the only Angels player with more games played than Trout.

Nothing takes away from Trout’s greatness, but it seems his most memorable moments come in defeats. On April 13 at Yankee Stadium, he hit a pair of two-run home runs (in the sixth inning and the eighth inning). Of course, Aaron Judge hit two homers in the same game, and Trent Grisham homered to give the Yankees the walk-off victory.

Trout’s most memorable moment might have come in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, when Japan defeated the USA 3-2. The game ended with Shohei Ohtani striking out his Angels teammate.

Trout has only played in three postseason games, all in 2014. Trout’s team lost them all.

That’s the problem with Trout’s career. There are too many defeats.

Mike Trout has played in 830 wins.
Mike Trout has played in 843 losses.

That doesn’t take away from his greatness. Trout is roaming center field again for the Angels. He’s hitting home runs, and the best reason by far to watch the Angels. I’m going to watch baseball royalty take on the Royals this weekend.

Editors’ Note: Elliott Kalb - dubbed “Mr. Stats” decades ago by Marv Albert and Bob Costas - is the former Senior Editorial Director at MLB Network and a longtime contributor of research and information to NBC Sports’ telecasts.