Is Mike Trout Already a Hall of Famer?

Mike Trout has retired from baseball in the middle of his prime to pursue his dream of being a weatherman.

While the above isn’t true, it does bring up a good question about Mike Trout and his career thus far. If the two-time MVP retired tomorrow, would he have a good enough case to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame?

While we can’t get into the brains of voters quite that easily, we can take a look at statistics and where Trout currently ranks among the MLB’s best of all time.

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Let’s start with the stats. Trout has a career slash line of .307/.416/.573. He has 240 home runs (37 yearly average), 224 doubles (34), and 1187 hits (181). While Trout obviously is not apart of any 3,000 hit or 600 home run club (yet), his 162 game averages are extremely impressive, which voters would have to take into account with such a short career.

His accolades are already impressive with two MVP’s awards. Trout has also been an All Star in each of his seven seasons, and a Silver Slugger in each. Trout also compares to the best (statistical) hitter of all time in Barry Bonds, as they are the only two players in MLB history to finish top two in MVP voting at least six times (Bonds did so nine times). Maybe this is why teams have begun treating Trout as they did Bonds back in his hey day.

While having such a short career would hurt Trout’s case in this hypothetical situation, his Wins Above Replacement (WAR) would perhaps be his biggest boost. Trout’s career WAR sits at 64.3, which was tied with all-time great Ty Cobb for accumulated WAR through an age-26 season. What is really crazy about that is that Cobb, one of the best hitters ever, had an entire extra season in on Trout through is age-26 season.

But why restrict Trout and compare him to just one Hall of Famer? In terms of WAR, Trout has already had a better career than 68 current Hall of Fame hitters, which is absolutely bonkers. If Trout has a 9.1 win season in 2019 (his average in seven full seasons), his career total would land at 73.4. That would put Trout 53rd all-time, as he would jump 48 players (Miguel Cabrera and Robinson Cano would also possibly be passed).

Trout’s career so far has been the best start to a career ever. Whether or not he would land in the Hall of Fame is he never stepped in a diamond again is impossible to tell given how many different voters there are for the Hall of Fame. However, one thing is for certain, Trout sure has one strong case.