Regardless of his age, Trout is on pace for a historic season. If he plays in every game the rest of the season, he’ll play in 139 games. If you project his current totals to 139 games, he will have 58 stolen bases, 30 home runs and a .348 BA. No player in MLB history has finished a season with those numbers or even finished with just that home run and steal combination.
Even if he regresses a little, no player in MLB history has hit .340 with 20 home runs and 40 stolen bases in a single season.
Trout’s trajectory certainly would place him in Most Valuable Player consideration, which isn’t unheard of for a rookie. Fred Lynn (1975) and Ichiro Suzuki (2001) were named MVPs — and rookies of the year — in their debut seasons. But if Trout were named this season’s MVP, he’d be the youngest to receive the award, passing Vida Blue, who was 22 years and 64 days old when he won the honor in 1971.
Next-Level Numbers
What makes Trout stand out as a rookie is his ability to get on base in two-strike counts. His OBP of .354 with two strikes ranks second in the majors behind Joey Votto’s .390 and ranks best in the AL.
Trout’s power comes mostly from his ability to mash off-speed pitches. His .716 slugging percentage against off-speed pitches leads all major league batting title qualifiers. Another unique aspect of Trout’s hitting is his ability to hit pitches at his knees or lower. He is hitting .389 on pitches located in the bottom third of the zone or lower, which ranks first in the majors.
Trout is scoring 47.5 percent of the time he reaches base this season. A most valuable trait, indeed.
Kenton Wong, Mark Simon and Lee Singer contributed to this report.
