Posted:
#376
Smashed that HR
Mike Trout Strikeouts
Posted:
#377
It isn't about the "strike out bets" working or not. There used to be a fade "Corbin" day and no one got mad. It is about Texas Deranger saying Mike Trout sucks. It simply isn't true. He will be in the HOF...Anybody want to bet against that??? I'll take your money.
Again, I'm not a huge Mike Trout fan. I just hate stupid people that keep ranting about nonsense. Go away bro. You made your point.
Posted:
#378
@River_fish
What were his stats before the Yankee series where the ball was obviously flying out of the ballpark with 22 home runs and after the Yankee series? How many home runs did he have before and after the Yankees series? Why won't you face reality? Watch this? I'm going to ask you one simple question to prove how blind Mike Trout fans are. Watch this? BEFORE THE YANKEES SERIES DID HE HAVE 53 AT BATS WITH 2 HOME RUNS? AFTER THE YANKEE SERIES HAS HE HAD 36 AT BATS WITH 2 HOME RUNS? Let's see if a true Mike Trout fan will answer this question?
Posted:
#384
I give up guys. I know, Mike Trout is the greatest baseball player that God ever created. He can't hit .240. I give up. NO I'M DON'T. LOL. And yes guys, I see you with my "now I'm done" post. I'm doing it jokingly now. But seriously. I REALLY MIGHT BE DONE. IT'S EXHAUSTING TALKING TO MIKE TROUT FANS.
Posted:
#386
@TxRangers
This was an interesting read if you missed it. Maybe he is going to have a better season than we thought. If he can stay healthy, of course:
the Angels’ star is hitting .246/.416/.594 with seven home runs and is a top 10 player by FanGraphs’ version of WAR (1.0). While there were some preseason indications that Trout could have another prime season on the way,
The contact quality is better than ever
While Statcast didn’t begin tracking until 2015, Trout’s fourth full season in the Majors, you can comfortably say that Trout’s quality of contact is as good as it’s been in some time.
Trout has consistently crushed the baseball in 2026, as evidenced by Statcast’s quality of contact measures and his percentile rankings.
- .504 expected wOBA (100th percentile)
- .783 expected SLG (100th percentile)
- 29.4 percent barrel rate (100th percentile)
- 93.8 mph avg. exit velocity (94th percentile)
- 75.4 mph bat speed (90th percentile
- .297 expected BA (88th percentile)
Is peak Mike Trout back? The early 2026 results appear to indicate so.
Through Thursday’s games, the Angels’ star is hitting .246/.416/.594 with seven home runs and is a top 10 player by FanGraphs’ version of WAR (1.0). While there were some preseason indications that Trout could have another prime season on the way, the fact that it’s come together like this has been nothing short of remarkable. Trout’s latest heroics came at Yankee Stadium, when he homered five times in a four-game series and became the first visiting player to homer on four straight days at any ballpark the Yankees have called home.
The power is back, the elite plate discipline has returned and Trout has rather seamlessly returned to playing every day in center field. Here’s a deep dive on the return of peak Trout.
Posted:
#387
Trout’s barrel rate is tops in the Majors and his expected wOBA and SLG are second only to Houston’s Yordan Alvarez -- all three figures are also career-best marks for Trout in the Statcast era. While it’s unlikely that Trout will barrel nearly a third of his batted balls all season, what’s clear is Trout’s ability to mash the ball looks as good as ever.
That contact quality has often been on the pull side and in the air, too, the optimal type of batted ball -- hitters have slugged 1.215 on pulled air balls (flyballs, lineouts and pop-ups) dating back to last season. Nearly a quarter of Trout’s batted balls have been pulled air balls, his highest since a 27.7 percent rate in 2019, when Trout won his third MVP and hit a career-high 45 home runs.
To be clear, Trout’s contact quality remained impressive even through the extensive list of injuries from 2021-2024, which limited him to just 36 games in ‘21, 82 games in ‘23 and 29 games in ‘24. In that one healthy-ish year in ‘22 (119 games), Trout slugged 40 homers and had a .999 OPS with all of the sterling contact quality measures.
But after dipping to a .798 OPS in a relatively healthy 130 games last season -- the lowest outside of his 40-game debut in 2011 -- it seemed like Trout could potentially continue a downward trend, especially since the contact quality measures also dipped. Instead, he’s reversed course and is hitting balls like he did in his prime.
Is peak Mike Trout back? The early 2026 results appear to indicate so.
Through Thursday’s games, the Angels’ star is hitting .246/.416/.594 with seven home runs and is a top 10 player by FanGraphs’ version of WAR (1.0). While there were some preseason indications that Trout could have another prime season on the way, the fact that it’s come together like this has been nothing short of remarkable. Trout’s latest heroics came at Yankee Stadium, when he homered five times in a four-game series and became the first visiting player to homer on four straight days at any ballpark the Yankees have called home.
The power is back, the elite plate discipline has returned and Trout has rather seamlessly returned to playing every day in center field. Here’s a deep dive on the return of peak Trout.
Posted:
#388
Return of elite plate discipline
It’d be one thing if Trout’s power surged but he was maybe selling out for more pop as a 34-year-old. That’s not the case, though. Trout’s discipline is as good as it’s been in years.
Trout has walked (18) as many times as he’s struck out this season. His 20.2 percent walk rate would represent a career high, while his 20.2 percent strikeout rate would be his lowest figure since 2017. When Trout was truly at his best, he was so dangerous because he blended this kind of elite power and plate discipline.
After years of seeing those numbers go the wrong way, Trout’s 2026 season has represented a stark turnaround. To date, Trout’s lowest point in terms of making contact came last season, when he struck out in a career-worst 32.0 percent of his plate appearances. His 29.9 percent whiff rate ranked in the 19th percentile.
He fixed that issue in short order. Trout’s 29.9 percent whiff rate has dropped to 19.9 percent his season, the largest drop of any qualified hitter. His 11.8 percent drop in strikeout rate is also the fourth-biggest improvement among any hitter. Trout’s 19.9 percent whiff rate and 17.2 percent chase rate are both the lowest they have been since 2020.
Add it all up and you have a version of Mike Trout that is mashing baseballs more than ever and displaying his best plate discipline in years. That, right there, is the crux of how Trout has taken off so far in 2026.
While there was justifiable skepticism about his return to center, the 34-year-old Trout has looked more than fine out there. While it’s far too early to deduce too much about his defensive metrics, Trout has essentially graded out right around average thus far by Outs Above Average (-1) and Defensive Runs Saved (+1).
A lot of that has been helped by Trout’s elite speed returning. Trout dipped to a 27.9 feet-per-second sprint speed last season, the first time he’s been under 28 seconds in the Statcast era and the first time he didn’t place in the 90th-plus percentile. Like the rest of his game, though, Trout’s formerly dominant skill has returned, as Trout’s 28.6-per-second sprint speed ranks in the 90th percentile.
Posted:
#389
That speed led to Trout swiping two bases before the calendar even flipped to April, which matched his total from all of last season in 130 games. Trout hasn’t stolen a base since that point -- it’s kind of hard to steal when you’re hitting balls over the fence -- but there’s at least a thought that Trout could reach double-digit steals for the first time since 2019.
It’s been the total package so far for MIke Trout, who has been the leading force for an Angels team that got off to a surprising 10-10 start, against a tough schedule to boot. He’s been the focal point of an offense that entered Friday as a top-five group in runs (105), home runs (32) and walks (95).
Maybe this will continue. Maybe it won’t. But so far, Mike Trout looks like Mike Trout and the Angels have been one of baseball’s most entertaining clubs.
Posted:
#391
@Raiders22
Damn dude, you spend a lot time on this. You did a thorough job. You made good points. To be honest, I wish he would have a good season so I could shut up. But as long as he keeps striking out almost 200 times, hitting 230, I'm going to continue to make fun of him, the media, and his fans. Today, he had a home run and 3 strikeouts, and his team lost. To me, that isn't a sign of a good baseball player. The 3 strikeouts overruled his 3rd home run, in his last 40 at bats. But anyways, I'll have to read your post again later. I'm sure I missed some things. Thank you again for spending some quality time here with your post. I appreciate it. GL
Posted:
#392
@Raiders22
Oh, I think I understand, this was a column, you just posted it. That's okay too. The article did say. "After years seeing of those numbers going the wrong way". Do you know why the article said that? Because he has sucked for almost a decade. But people will not admit it. GL. And thank you for posting it
Posted:
#394
@TxRangers
Yessir. It was an article on MLB.
I saw it and thought of your thread.
But it points out, in part, why the advanced analytics and baseball experts nowadays do not look at strikeouts as the awful thing that we used to view it as.
There are just so many other things they evaluate players coming up on. These are also the things that they emphasize when training them coming up as well.
This is what so many use to point out what a generational talent Troy has been. Like the article points out, he was doing those things well even in the injury-shortened years.
I have a hard time not making it a knock on guys for striking out. But the days where people looked at Gwynn or Boggs as more valuable because of their BA or fewer strikeouts are gone.
Experts value the things that have been proven to generate more runs and wins over the long run as opposed to BA and not striking out.
Certainly there are some guys that do not generate the runs or have the expected value and they also strikeout and have a lower BA -- Trout just is not one of those.
I thought the article did a good job of superficially pointing that out.
Posted:
#395
@Raiders22
Check out Hank Aaron's career #'s, quite amazing.
In 23 years(1954-1976) .305 BA, .928 OPS, ISO .250, HR 5.4%, SO 9.9%, BB 10.1%.
Just for reference, the mlb averages in this time frame looked like this:
BA .252, OPS .705, ISO .124, HR 2.1%, SO 14%, BB 8.6%
Although, the era that he played in(1954-1976), the fastball average was around 83-86 mph.
Think about that for a second. Today, dudes are throwing sliders in the low 90's. Cutters 94 to 98.
It was a lot easier to NOT strike out back in the day.
Not taking anything away from Hank Aaron, not at all. Cause his numbers/production compared to other players in the league for 23 years was simply incredible.
I think we have to call him the best ever to play?
My point though, is that a lot of players strike out today, the percentages have gone up with the rise in velocity from pitching throughout the years.
Currently, the leagues strikeout percentage is 22.2%
From 1976 to 2000 16.6%
From 2000 to 2010 18.5%
2019 was the highest strikeout percentage in MLB history at 23.4%. Pitching coaches started teaching spin rates, and mechanics designed purely for increased velo in the early 10's. 2010 to 2020 is known as the golden age of strikeouts.
Mike Trout is good.
Posted:
#396
@undermysac
You guys are doing some serious research. Here's a easy one. And a easy question that no one will answer. So, you say everyone strikes out more? Right? Explain this. In 2025, Manny Machado played 30 more games, struck out 48 times less than Mike Trout. Explain that? And tell me people strike out more often nowadays? But I'm curious for you to explain it to me since you said people strike out more who are playing now?
Posted:
#398
@undermysac
Explain this since you say the league strikes out more. How come Yordan Alvarez DOES NOT strike out near as often as trout does? This will be 8 years in a row trout will have more strikeouts than hits. It's never happened to Manny Machado in his career, it's never happened to Yordan in his career either. Why Trout? I'll wait for your answer. Once again. Manny Machado has never had more strikeouts than hits in his career. Explain that. And explain Yordan. Yordan averages 72 KS a year, Mike Trout 111. Explain that? That's a huge discrepancy. Explain that?
Posted:
#399
@undermysac
You just gave a huge write-up about sliders, cutters, velocity. Well, it doesn't seem to bother yordan Alvarez or Machado. Why does it bother trout, but not those two power hitters. Once again, because people don't realize this. This will be 8 years in a row, and next year will be 9, next year 10 and so on that trout will have more strikeouts than hits for the season. Alvarez and Machado have never done this. Judge only a few times. But the great Mike Trout, this will be 8 years in a row. Why? Explain this to me
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