In case you've missed it, Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels, age 21, is having one of the greatest seasons by a player that age in the history of baseball. 25 homers, 108 runs scored, 75 RBIs, batting .333, 43 stolen bases and only caught four times. 8.3 WAR. And there's nearly a month to go, and he missed nearly a month at the start of the season! I looked it up... in the past 100 years, only four players at that age have had years even approaching Trout's. Their names?
Albert Pujols.
Ted Williams.
Joe DiMaggio.
Frank Robinson.
And their seasons aren't as good as Trout's, at least from a WAR perspective (Wins Against Replacement-Level Player). If you go back one more year, to 1911, you find the only 21 year-old in the history of baseball (since 1871) who had a better season in terms of WAR. His name?
Shoeless Joe Jackson. All he did that year was hit .408 and score 126 runs in the dead-ball era.
In other words, baseball fans ought to put this year in the time capsule. What Trout is doing doesn't come around very often. Maybe once in a lifetime. If you're lucky.
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