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 – First Round

Of course, Mike Trout is hardly the only quality major leaguer to come out of the 2009 MLB draft. In particular, the first round of the draft was full of talented players and despite hindsight, it is easy to see why talent scouts may have passed on Trout with the first 24 picks.

Of the 48 players selected in the first round (including supplemental picks), 26 players have had a positive bWAR in the majors. Another seven players received shots at the game’s highest level and contributed below replacement value. In fact, only 14 players in the first round of the 2009 draft failed to reach the majors, and only six of those were selected before Mike Trout.

From a pure value standpoint, the first overall pick in that draft, Stephen Strasburg, is the closest to justifying his spot in the draft. The consensus top pick at the time, Strasburg has lived up to his billing with the Washington Nationals. Making his debut in 2010, Strasburg has gone 112-58 over his first 10 seasons, working to a 3.17 ERA, a 2.96 FIP, a 10.6 K/9 ratio, and has been worth a stellar 33.5 bWAR. He rode a World Series MVP performance in 2019 to sign a new seven-year, $245 million deal with Washington.

Of the other five players that have been worth 10 or more bWAR, four are pitchers (Mike Minor, Mike Leake, James Paxton, and Zach Wheeler). The other is A.J. Pollock (19.2 bWAR), who currently toils in the Los Angeles Dodgers outfield.

Other notable names in the first round of the 2009 MLB draft include Kyle Gibson, Shelby Miller, Dustin Ackley, Drew Storen, and Rex Brothers.