Angels: How much better is Mike Trout than the rest of his draft class?

Trout famously fell to the Los Angeles Angels with the 25th overall pick of the 2009 MLB Draft, but what has become of the other players in that draft?

Consolation prizes are not necessarily what any team looks to take home when it sets out on any endeavor, especially in the world of sports. However, one such award may have been the biggest prize of them all. That being the Angels drafting of Mike Trout.

In July 2008, the Angels made a midseason splash, landing Mark Teixeira to bolster their playoff chances. After he hit .358/.449/.632 with 13 home runs and 43 RBI down the stretch, the team was hoping to re-sign the slugger heading into the 2008-09 offseason. However, the Angels ended up retracting their offer when Teixeira made it known he preferred to play on the East Coast and eventually signed an 8-year, $180 million with the New York Yankees.

At the time Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times said of Teixeira, “he will be virtually impossible to replace next season.” He would be wrong about that, in the near-term, as Kendrys Morales turned in a career season in 2009. In regards to the long-term, that’s where the aforementioned consolation prize comes in.

Back in 2008, it didn’t matter if a player was a rental player or not. If he signed with another organization, the team that lost him would be awarded a compensation pick, with the quality of the pick being based on what bracket the free agent landed in.  After losing Teixeira to free agency and the Yankees, the Angels were awarded the 25th pick of the draft as compensation.

And who did they use that pick on? None other than Mike Trout.

Trout was part of a memorable draft class for the Angels, who made the Vineland, NJ outfielder their second selection of the draft. He was one of five picks for the team in the first round of the 2009 draft, including supplemental picks.

Needless to say, the Angels came out pretty good despite losing their ultimate target that winter. Trout has developed into the best player in baseball and is well on his way toward a Hall of Fame career.

However, with Mike Trout falling to the 25th overall pick, one has to wonder about the rest of the 2009 draft class. How did the Angels’ other selections work out? What about the players drafted before Trout? And what of the ones that fell in later rounds?

Let’s take a look at how Mike Trout stacks up against the rest of the 2009 MLB Draft class.

Mike Trout and the 2009 Angels Draft Class

You’d think that a player of Mike Trout’s stature would not only have been an early pick in the draft, but you’d also think that he was his team’s first selection of the draft. Alas, you would be wrong on both counts.

Trout fell to the Angels with the 25th overall selection, but before he came off the board, the team used its first selection (24th overall) on another outfielder; Randall Grichuk. They would then use subsequent first-round selections on Tyler Skaggs (#40), Garrett Richards (#42), and Tyler Kehrer (#48). Of the first-round class, only Kehrer has failed to reach the major leagues, topping out at High-A Inland Empire before retiring in 2012.

Grichuk has himself turned in a decent player at the major league level, but he also never played an inning for the Angels. The team traded him to the Cardinals in 2013 along with Peter Bourjos to acquire David Freese and Fernando Salas. He spent four years with the Cardinals before again being traded, this time to the Toronto Blue Jays. In six MLB seasons, he’s hit a combined .244/.293/.483 with 122 home runs and 323 RBI.

Richards proved to be a solid choice as well, making his MLB debut in 2011 and cracking the rotation in 2013. From 2013 through 2015, he went a combined 35-24 with a 3.45 ERA, a 3.40 FIP, and a 7.6 K/9 ratio. However, elbow issues appeared in 2016, and Tommy John surgery in 2018 limited Richards to just 31 starts over the last four seasons.  He is currently a member of the Padres organization, still trying to work his way back to the mound.

Tyler Skaggs may be the biggest mystery of this draft. Before throwing a pitch for the Angels, the team traded him and Patrick Corbin in a blockbuster that netted the team Dan Haren in August 2010. They then re-acquired him in a three-team trade that shipped out Mark Trumbo to Arizona and brought Skaggs back to Anaheim. He would pitch for five seasons with the Angels, with injuries playing their part on him making just 96 starts and working to a 28-38 record and a 4.41 ERA. Sadly, he would die unexpectedly of an opioid overdose on July 1, 2019.

The later rounds of the Angels 2009 draft:
Of the Angels chosen outside of the first round in 2009, only two have made major league contributions.

The previously mentioned Patrick Corbin was selected with the 80th overall selection (second round). Like Skaggs, he would never appear in a game for the Angels, but he’s left a decent mark on the game, checking in with a career 17.1 bWAR over seven seasons. He owns a lifetime record of 70-61 with an ERA of 3.80, a 3.62 FIP, and an 8.9 K/9. He’s currently getting ready for the second year of a six-year, $140 million deal he signed with the Washington Nationals prior to the 2019 season.

Mike Trout and the 2009 MLB Draft – Later Rounds

Anyone that knows baseball understands that the MLB draft is a crap shoot. The long road from draft prospect through the minor leagues and to Major League Baseball means that nothing is a sure thing. That much is evident by looking at the top picks over the years. There have been hits and there have been misses throughout.

That luck extends to the later rounds. Scouting isn’t an exact science and sometimes guys fall to later rounds but still end up being better than their first-round counterparts. Hindsight is 20/20 and some scouts have undoubtedly kicked themselves for missing on Mike Trout and letting him fall to the 25th selection.

But what of the players that fell after Trout? Surely some talented players were selected outside of the first round in 2009.

Of the players selected in the 29 rounds after Mike Trout, ten other players have accrued a bWAR of 20 or greater. A Cy Young winner, Dallas Keuchel, barely missed that mark by checking in with 19.8.

Among the current luminaries in the game that made that list, Paul Goldschmidt has the second-highest bWAR of the 2009 draft class. In nine seasons split between the Diamondbacks and Cardinals, the 8th round selection has turned a .292/.391/.524 batting line into 243 home runs, 807 RBI, a 43.1 bWAR. For comparison sake, that is still nearly 30 points below Trout’s bWAR of 72.8.

The next two on the list fit on both sides of the aforementioned Stephen Strasburg and are coincidentally both third basemen. Nolan Arenado was selected in the second round by the Rockies and has been worth 37.5 bWAR over his seven seasons, built on a .295/.351/.546 slash line, 227 home runs, and 734 RBI while playing Gold Glove defense. Kyle Seager was a third-round pick for the Mariners. Also a veteran of nine seasons, he’s been worth a 32.5 bWAR while hitting .256/.324/.443 with 198 home runs and 666 RBI. However, most of his value was accrued during a solid stretch between 2013 to 2017.

Other notable names in the latter rounds of 2009 include D.J. LeMahieu (21.8 – 2nd round), Jason Kipnis (21.0 – 2nd Round), Brandon Belt (23.0 – 5th round), Brian Dozier (23.5 – 8th Round), Matt Carpenter (28.3 – 13th round), and JD Martinez (24.2 – 20th round).

LA Angels: Five untouchable players in trade talks

As you can see, Mike Trout kept some excellent company in the 2009 MLB draft. However, even among other superstars, he’s been far and away better than his classmates.