Tuesday night, the struggling Los Angeles Angels picked up a big come-from-behind win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Angel Stadium (LAA 5, ARI 4). The Halos were in danger of dropping their fourth straight game and losing for the eighth time in their last nine games.
The hero Tuesday was, of course, the great Mike Trout. Trout managed to clear the bases with a single in the fifth inning. A throwing error by center fielder Jarrod Dyson helped the third run score. Here's the play:
Trout went 1 for 1 with two walks and two runs driven in Tuesday night, and he also reached on a catcher's interference. His season batting line now sits at an incredible .335/.469/.689 with an MLB leading 23 home runs and more walks (64) than strikeouts (60) through 73 team games.
Here are Trout's ranks among the 160 players with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title:
- Batting average: .335 (5th -- Jose Altuve leads at .341)
- On-base percentage: .469 (1st -- Joey Votto is second at .428)
- Slugging percentage: .689 (2nd -- Mookie Betts leads at .692)
- OPS: 1.158 (1st -- Betts is second at 1.115)
- OPS+: 219 (1st -- Betts is second at 194)
- WAR: 6.5 (1st -- Jose Ramirez is second at 4.7)
Trout is currently in the middle of the best season of his career based on the rate stats, and he's on pace for 14.4 WAR, which would rank among the greatest seasons in baseball history. Only five times in history has a position player topped even 12 WAR. Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski was the last to do it (12.5 WAR in 1967).
Furthermore, Trout is in the middle of the best hot streak of his career right now. In his last eight games, Trout has gone 16 for 23 (.696) with one double, four homers, nine runs batted in, 11 walks, and five strikeouts. He has reached base in 29 of his last 37 plate appearances. That's a .778 on-base percentage.
That 2.039 OPS is the best eight-game stretch of Trout's career, and it's not particularly close either. Here, using plain old OPS with no ballpark adjustments or anything like that, are the best eight-game stretches (with no overlap) in Trout's career:
- June 11-19, 2018: .696/.778/1.261 (2.039 OPS)
- May 18-26, 2018: .458/.629/1.250 (1.879 OPS)
- May 13-21, 2017: .429/.622/1.190 (1.812 OPS)
- April 28 to May 6, 2018: .500/.649/1.000 (1.649 OPS)
- Aug. 27 to Sept. 5, 2016: .500/.621/1.000 (1.621 OPS)
Three of the four best eight-game stretches of Trout's season have come within the last 60 days. Trout is hitting .364/.507/.727 since May 1 and, remarkably, the Angels are 23-23 during that time. They are 2-6 during this insane eight-game hot streak. The pitching has not been good and the other players in the lineup aren't providing much support. One man can only do so much.
As great as he's been throughout his career, Trout has never been better than he is right now. His overall season numbers are off-the-charts and his performance these last eight games has been historically great. Remember, Trout is only 26. He turns 27 in August. It is entirely possible he is just now hitting the prime of his career.
