With a two-run home run in the first inning of the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Rangers, Angels outfielder both tied Cody Bellinger for the major league lead in home runs and set a new single-season career-high at 42. Trout’s blast opened the scoring, staking the Halos to an early lead.
Trout is batting .300/.445/.669 on the year. The dinger leaves him two RBI shy of 100 for the year, and he’s already at 101 runs scored. MLB can already inscribe Trout’s name on the 2019 AL MVP Award. Per FanGraphs, he has 8.5 WAR, which is almost a full 3.0 WAR more than his next closest competitor, Xander Bogaerts (5.6). The difference between Trout and Bogaerts at No. 2 is about the difference between Bogaerts and Jonathan Villar (2.8) at No. 25.
Both Baseball Reference and FanGraphs show Trout as already having matched future first-ballot Hall of Famer Derek Jeter in career WAR. Jeter played for 20 seasons while Trout has been in the league nine years. Baseball Reference lists Jeter and Trout at 72.4 while FanGraphs has them locked at 73.2. The tie won’t last long. This is not to take anything away from Jeter. This is meant to illustrate just how legendary Trout has been since debuting in 2011.
