Each year it seems since Mike Trout has become known as the greatest baseball player on the planet and maybe the best ever, the media likes to make comparisons of new talent saying are they as good or better than Mike Trout. About 3-4 years ago it started with Jose Altuve. I remember the comparisons. Will Altuve rival Trout as MLB best player? While Altuve had an exceptional year or two back in 2015/16, he since has fallen off a little. No more talk about him and Trout. Last year it was Mookie Betts. I remember the media asking, has Betts replaced Trout as the games best player. Betts, last years MVP, did have a great year actually beat him in WAR for once!! What about the other 5 seasons Betts has been in the league when Trout has worn him and everyone else out. Now, in 2019 there's been no more talk about Betts. His WAR is 4.0, while Trout is on another level at 6.6!
However, so far in 2019 there have been more than one comparison to Trout and that there may be others as good or better than. I have counted 5. Obviously with the year Bellinger and Yelich are having they will draw comparisons. To me Yelich being the closest to Trout's game than anyone in terms of years in the league, speed and power, but it's just been over the last two seasons. Trout's been doing it ever since he arrived 8-9 years ago. Bellinger is having an MVP year, but it's just his first at 23 years old. Trout had in MVP at 22 and should've had 3 by age 24. As a matter of fact, you could argue Trout's been the MVP every year he's played!
Unbelievably, when Vlad Guerrero Jr. came up there were comparisons of him to Mike Trout. Jr. Just take a look at his rookie stats compared to Trout's. Then there's someone named Juan Soto whose been compared to Trout after Just 200 games. I even heard Ronald Acuna's name come up as the next Trout.
Sorry guys, there's no other Mike Trout coming for a while. Maybe in 25-30 years!
I'm not going to go into a long list of stats to prove a point. I'll just use the best overall stat that's being used, WAR, to prove there's no comparison of any other players I mentioned above, and Trout.
Mike Trout, Career WAR: 70.8, season '19 WAR, 6.6. 8 years/27 years old.
Mookie Betts, Career WAR:39.1, season '19 WAR, 4.0. 6 years/26 years old.
Jose Altuve, Career WAR: 36.0, season '19 WAR, 1.2. 9 years/29 years old.
Christian Yelich, Career WAR:32.4, season'19WAR, 5.9. 7 years/27 years old.
Cody Bellinger, Career WAR: 15.1, season '19WAR, 6.7. 3 years/23 years old.
Ronald Acuna, Career WAR: 7.6, season' 19 WAR, 3.5. 2 years/21 years old.
Juan Soto, Career WAR: 5.3, season '19 WAR, 2.4. 2 years/20 years old.
Guerrero JR.Career WAR: 1.0, season '19 WAR, 1.0. 1 year. 19 years old.
Trout is the all time leader in WAR, 70.8, to age 27 already, with 60 games left in the season. Ahead of the great Ty Cobb, 69.2!
As you can see, it's absurd to put any of these players in Trout's category
Trout has pretty much doubled what Betts, Altuve, and Yelich have done of the guys near his age and years of service. As for the others from Bellinger on down, it's way to early!
I guess all these wrong and early speaks to greatness you see once in a lifetime.
The fact is, there won't be another like Mike Trout.