An argument can be made already that the Angels’ Mike Trout is the best player in MLB history, and he might not even have hit his prime yet. Here are two props available to wager at Mybookie on Trout’s 2020 MLB season – assuming there is one – and an overview.
Mike Trout MLB Awards Odds & Analysis For 2020 Season
- Most home runs of any batter: Trout is +900 favorite
- AL MVP Award: Trout is even money favorite
Trout won his third career AL MVP Award last season. Trout, who previously received the honor in 2014 and ’16, is now tied for the second-most MVP Awards in history, trailing only Barry Bonds’ seven. The center fielder has finished in the top two in AL MVP balloting in seven of the last eight years, with his worst finish coming when he came in fourth in 2017.
Trout hit a career-high 45 homers while leading MLB in on-base percentage and leading the AL in slugging percentage (second in MLB behind Christian Yelich). Trout, 28, hit .291/.438/.645 with 104 RBIs, 110 runs and 11 stolen bases in 134 games. Trout’s MVP was the fifth in Angels history. In addition to his three, the Angels also saw Don Baylor (1979) and Vladimir Guerrero (2004) receive the honor.
“Just felt like I was the most consistent at the plate,” Trout said. “I felt good all year. I had a couple skids, but I was able to get out of them quickly. I had a lot of help from my hitting coaches. I had a great year. I felt good.”
Mike Trout is one of 11 players to win at least three MVP awards and was the sixth to win three times in the American League, joining Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle and Alex Rodriguez. His 72.5 career bWAR is the best ever by a player before their age-28 season, ahead of Ty Cobb (69.0) and Mickey Mantle (68.1). Trout has compiled 285 career home runs and is 15 shy of breaking the franchise record, held by Tim Salmon (299).
Trout’s 8.6 FanGraphs wins above replacement was just slightly ahead of Alex Bregman’s 8.5, marking the sixth time in eight full seasons that Trout has either led or tied for the lead in FanGraphs WAR. It was enough to make up for the fact that Trout’s Angels lost 90 games. Trout now has as many MVP trophies as he does career postseason games.
“I come in every year, I try to be the best,” said Trout, who joined Ernie Banks as the only players to win multiple MVPs for sub-.500 teams. “If at the end of the year I’m in the conversation, that means I worked hard, I had a good year. Obviously people say you need to make the playoffs. I’m doing everything I can to try to help the team win. I was banged up, with some injuries, we had a death in the middle of the season. I let other people decide this. I go out there and put up the best numbers I can put up and just go out there and play my game.”
Mike has already compiled 73.4 career FanGraphs WAR, placing him 47th on the all-time leaderboard. Trout had an operation in mid-September to remove a neuroma from his foot but was fine by the time spring training rolled around.
Before his foot injury last year, Trout was on pace through 128 games last year to hit 53 homers. Trout once stole 49 bases to lead the league but his running days essentially are over. Last year he attempted only 13 stolen bases, half of what he tried the previous season. He hit .291, the second lowest of his eight full seasons.
Trout isn’t a big fan of MLB’s idea of perhaps playing this season entirely in Arizona without fans while sequestering players and staff in nearby hotels and testing them regularly for COVID-19 for several months.
“I obviously want to play as fast as we can. Get to a city, maybe Arizona, they’re throwing out Florida. Being quarantined in a city, if we play a couple of months, it would be difficult for some guys,” Trout said. “What are you gonna do with family members? My wife is pregnant. What am I gonna do when she goes into labor? Am I going to have to quarantine for two weeks after I come back?”
Mike Trout has missed an average of 33 games per year over the past three seasons. He likely will miss many more than that this year, making it four straight years in the prime of his career that Trout will not play more than 140 games.
