MLB

Is Mike Trout the Best Young Player in MLB History?

John Stolnis  —  @johnstolnis Aug 7th, 2015
On Mike Trout's 24th birthday, here's a look at how he compares to everyone else through their age 23 season.

On Friday, Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout turned 24 years old. You won't find a single baseball analyst who doesn't agree that he is the best all-around player in baseball, and he has been pretty much since his first full season in 2012 when he was just 20 years old.

Trout is once again having a ridiculous season, perhaps the best of his already incredible career.

Year PA AVG OBP SLG wOBA wRC+ HR SB
2012 639 .326 .399 .564 .409 167 30 49
2013 716 .323 .432 .557 .423 177 27 33
2014 705 .287 .377 .561 .402 167 36 16
2015 447 .303 .394 .611 .421 180 32 10

Offensively, Trout's weighted runs created (wRC+) of 180 is a career high, meaning this is the best he's ever done as a run producer. His slugging percentage of .611 is also a career high, and he's on pace to hit 50 home runs this season (I'm slightly rounding up here), which would obliterate his career best of 36, set last year.

And while his defense has slipped a bit over the last few years, most defensive metrics have him as at least an average defender, with the capability of making a huge play. 

We've gotten used to this. We've come to expect this type of performance from Trout, which is why I don't write about him all that much. It's more interesting to write about players who are having career seasons, or rookies who have made a big splash, or veterans who are struggling. Those stories are more compelling.

But as the Angels' slugger celebrates his 24th birthday Friday, it's a good time to stop, take it all in for a moment, and ask ourselves whether Trout is the very best young player who has ever played the game. 

Below are the top 20 of all Major League players in history through their age-23 season. And keep in mind, Trout still has about seven weeks to continue accumulating stats (even though he's now officially 24, this entire season counts as his age-23 season, according to MLB).

Rk Player WAR/pos Age HR RBI SB BA OBP SLG OPS
1 Ty Cobb 36 18-23 28 474 258 0.346 0.395 0.476 0.871
2 Mike Trout 34.8 19-23 130 375 112 0.305 0.395 0.560 0.955
3 Ted Williams 34.2 20-23 127 515 11 0.356 0.481 0.642 1.123
4 Mel Ott 31.4 17-23 153 608 37 0.321 0.421 0.564 0.985
5 Ken Griffey 30.1 19-23 132 453 77 0.303 0.375 0.520 0.895
6 Mickey Mantle 29.7 19-23 121 445 33 0.298 0.400 0.528 0.928
7 Alex Rodriguez 27.7 18-23 148 463 118 0.308 0.363 0.551 0.914
8 Al Kaline 27.5 18-23 98 450 41 0.308 0.368 0.481 0.849
9 Arky Vaughan 26.7 20-23 44 351 27 0.337 0.422 0.502 0.924
10 Rogers Hornsby 26.5 19-23 27 266 59 0.310 0.370 0.440 0.811
11 Andruw Jones 26.1 19-23 116 361 95 0.272 0.344 0.494 0.838
12 Eddie Mathews 25.7 20-23 153 397 20 0.281 0.391 0.570 0.961
13 Jimmie Foxx 25.5 17-23 116 498 26 0.328 0.421 0.591 1.012
14 Cesar Cedeno 24.9 19-23 90 377 205 0.294 0.346 0.476 0.822
15 Vada Pinson 24.6 19-23 80 340 104 0.308 0.357 0.486 0.843
16 Stan Musial 24 20-23 36 254 23 0.344 0.423 0.539 0.962
17 Frank Robinson 23.5 20-23 134 366 46 0.299 0.374 0.543 0.917
18 Sherry Magee 23.5 19-23 20 364 200 0.295 0.356 0.422 0.778
19 Hank Aaron 22.6 20-23 110 399 8 0.313 0.360 0.542 0.902
20 Cal Ripken 22.3 20-23 82 281 5 0.293 0.351 0.494 0.845

According to Baseball Reference, Trout's 34.8 WAR as of right now is second only to Ty Cobb's 36.0, but remember, Trout still has another month-and-a-half to increase that number. It seems likely he'll surpass Cobb by the end of the regular season.

Trout's 130 home runs rank sixth among all players through their age-23 season. His 449 runs scored is ninth, and his .955 OPS ranks 13th. His 130 doubles are 16th, his 375 RBI are 18th, and his 28 triples are tied for 23rd. And he's one of the very few players to rank that high in all those categories at the same time.

Many of these players are in the top-25 in two or three categories. Trout has seven categories in which he's at least that high. 

The bottom line is, Mike Trout is insanely good, and he is probably the best young baseball player this game has ever seen.

And that, my friends, is interesting.