Today Mike Trout turns 28. He's on his way to his eighth full season in the majors and is probably the best all-around player in baseball over the past 50 years.
Mike began with a spectacular rookie season in 2012 and has only gotten better since, improving every weakness in his game. He used to strike out a lot and walk less. In 2014 he walked in 11.7% of his at bats and struck out in 26.1%. Last year he was 20% in both categories. He had trouble with the high inside fastball but changed his stance and now you can't throw it past him. He was criticized for a weak throwing arm and had only three assists in his first two full seasons. After working on his throwing strength he's had 30 assists over the last five years and measurably increased the speed of his throws.
He covers a lot of ground as an outfielder and has made any number of spectacular catches. As of now he is the fourth most successful base stealer in major league history with an 84% success rate - actually, apart from a period in 2015 where pitchers and catchers seemed to have found something in his approach and caught him 7 times in 11 attempts, his success rate is 87% which would be the highest in history.
He hits for average, he hits for power and for the fourth year in a row he's leading the league on On Base Percentage, for the third consecutive year in OPS, and for the fifth time in a row in OPS+ (he plays home games in a pitcher's park).
In seven full seasons he's won two MVPs and finished second on four occasions. The year he missed a third of the games due to injury he only finished fourth.
In the new fangled stat of Wins Above Replacement (WAR) he is #1 as of age 28 of the almost 20,000 players in major league history, displacing the former #1, Ty Cobb, and is already #60 in career WAR for position players.
What a treat to watch someone perform at this level!
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