A Damn Shame

As we all know, Mike Trout is the best player in baseball. By some metrics, he is on his way to being the best player of all time. And even though it does not seem possible, he keeps getting better.

After the first two months of the season, Trout was off to his best start, leading the league in WAR (33% better than Bryce Harper). In fact, the early-season disparity between Trout and Harper (#1 & #2 on Fangraph’s WAR list) is the same as the disparity between Harper and #20 on the list (Mookie Betts/Nolan Arenado).

Trout is second in the league (behind only the mighty Aaron Judge) in HRs; is tops in OBP and OPS; second in Slugging Percentage; and in the MLB Top 12 of Batting Average, Runs, Stolen Bases, and RBI (if you’re into that type of thing)*. In short, we may have been witnessing greatness squared — Trout outperforming otherwise peak-Trout. The Millville Meteor was well on his way to another first or second finish in the MVP race for the sixth straight season (besting Barry Bonds in the process).

Alas, after Sunday, it wasn’t meant to be. In order to complete his tenth stolen base, Trout dove head first into second. He came up with a torn UCL in his left thumb. Trout is having surgery today, and will be out 6–8 weeks. He is making $19.2M this year, which means this dive into second will cost the Angels about $6.5M of lost productivity (and, truth be told, that is a gross under-estimation of his true worth). But, more importantly, the Angels lost their best player, their best hope for contention, their best draw, and the best reason to tune into an Angels’ game. We as fans lost the best player in the game. No more highlight catches; no turning on inside fastballs and hitting them to the rocks at Angels Stadium; no going from first to third on a single to left; and now no reason to pitch to Albert Pujols in his quest for #600 (although it seems Pujols doesn’t need much help).

Two years ago I wrote a piece about the stupidity of sliding head first (“Using Your Head…By Using Your Feet”). After watching Trout walk off the field Sunday afternoon, I went back to take another look. The article is as relevant today as it was two summers ago. In case you missed it then, I decided to repost it — maybe Trout will need something to read in the recovery room.

http://baseballcraziness.com/?p=114

Trout is on the shelf for the first time in his career. For an injury that was self-inflicted. Doing an act we specifically prohibit kids from doing. All you can say is that it’s a damn shame; just a damn shame!

Use your feet…

PLAY BALL!!

Note: All stats current as of May 30th.