Still The Best: Trout Wins Third Poy In Five Years

For the fifth straight season, Angels center fielder Mike Trout is the best player in baseball. Now, for the third time in that span he is the Baseball America Major League Player of the Year.

- Taylor Ward

The 25-year-old led the major leagues this season with 123 runs scored, 116 walks, a .441 on-base percentage and 10.6 wins above replacement, according to Baseball-Reference.com.

Trout is the first player to lead his league in WAR for five consecutive seasons since Babe Ruth. He generated more career WAR prior to his age-25 season (48.5) than any player in history. He surpassed Ty Cobb (46.7) and Mickey Mantle (40.9) this season.

Trout has easily produced the most value in the majors since 2012, his first full big league season.

Wins Above Replacement, 2012-16

1. Mike Trout, of . . . . . . . . 47.8

2. Clayton Kershaw, lhp . . 34.7

3. Robinson Cano, 2b . . . . 33.3

4. Josh Donaldson, 3b . . . 32.8

5. Adrian Beltre, 3b . . . . . 32.1

6. Max Scherzer, rhp . . . . 30.2

7. Miguel Cabrera, 1b . . . 29.6

8. Paul Goldschmidt, 1b . 28.6

9. Buster Posey, c . . . . . . . 28.3

10. Chris Sale, lhp . . . . . . . . 27.6 SOURCE:

The scariest thing about Trout’s performance is his capacity for improvement. He hit .315/.441/.550 in 159 games this season, chipping in with 29 home runs, 32 doubles, five triples and 100 RBIs. He stole 30 bases in 37 tries after making fewer than 20 attempts in each of the past two seasons.

Equally crucial, Trout lowered his strikeout rate to 20 percent while recording a career-best walk rate of 17 percent. This allowed him to hit .300 for the first time since 2013.

Trout is so good that we have run out of words to praise him. So we turn to the industry to learn what they’re saying about the three-time POY.

—Taylor Ward is a freelance writer based in San Bernardino, Calif.

Angels Manager Mike Scioscia