September is here. Some teams are preparing for a postseason run. Some teams are still fighting for their spot. Other teams are already looking to next year, trying to make the best of what is already a lost season.
Unfortunately for Halo fans, we are stuck in that last category, counting down until the end of the season and looking forward to how we can improve for next year. While we wait for the end to come, now is as good of a time as any to ask the question:
READ:Update on Angels pitcher Matt Shoemaker
Is Mike Trout already the greatest Angel ever? Slashing .323/.442/.574 and putting up 9.3 WAR, he’s in the midst of yet another MVP caliber season. The man is amazing and can do it all, clearly, but how does he stack up against past Angel greats?
A glance at the career WAR leaderboard shows us that Trout ranks eighth all time when compared to players who have played for the Angels for an extended period of time, behind greats such as Nolan Ryan, Chuck Finley, Bobby Grich, and Albert Pujols.
The question, however, is whether Trout is the greatest Angel ever, not just the greatest player to ever play for the Angels. If we compare numbers put up solely by players while in an Angels’ uniform, the answer begins to get clearer. Mike Trout’s first four full seasons as an Angel also happen to be the four best seasons according to WAR by any Angel ever, and once this season is over he will own the five best seasons ever put up by an Angel.
Those four full seasons, plus what Trout has already put up this year, combine to give Trout 47.2 career war, already more than any other player has put up for the Angels. The fact that Trout is already eighth all time for any player to play for the Angels at the tender young age of twenty-five is pretty extraordinary.
Trout also currently owns the best on-base percentage, slugging percentage, adjusted OPS+, and stolen base percentage in Angel history, while already being in the top ten of almost every single offensive category you can think of. While there are a lot of good and lovable players in the Angels’ history, there really is no denying; Michael Nelson Trout is already the greatest Angel ever.