MLB Power Rankings: Top 25 players in the game today
1. Mike Trout
The best player in Major League Baseball, Mike Trout, just keeps raising the bar for himself. Despite hitting in the middle of a Los Angeles Angels lineup that offers him little in terms of protection, Trout has led the Major Leagues in OPS+ three years in a row and has posted a .300/.400/.600 line two years in a row. The 27-year-old is working on his third season in a row with an OPS over 1.000 and is getting on base at close to a .500 clip so far this season.
Minor injuries the last two years have prevented Trout from adding his third and fourth MVP awards, but he still managed to finish fourth and second in the vote despite playing only 114 games in 2017 and 140 games last season. Trout is head and shoulders above the rest of the league.
It has almost reached the point where baseball fans take Trout’s greatness for granted. He does everything well and goes about his business in a very reserved manner. In 1,090 career MLB games, Trout has reached base an even 2,000 times. He’s about as close to a sure bet to do something good on the diamond on any given night.
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Here is a list of players Trout is most similar to through his age-26 season: Frank Robinson, Ken Griffey Jr, Mickey Mantle, Miguel Cabrera, Orlando Cepeda, Mel Ott. That’s pretty good company. He might be the only player under 30 in the game today who could retire on the spot and still warrant induction into the Hall of Fame. Over the next decade, Trout will have the chance to totally cement his status as the greatest baseball player in history.