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Mike Trout's place in history is already greater than you think
Angels star Mike Trout has a chance to lead the league in WAR for a fifth straight year. USA TODAY Sports

Mike Trout's place in history is already greater than you think

For all intents and purposes, it has been generally established that Mike Trout is the top player in baseball today. He has hit the perennial MVP candidate zone, due to the fact that he has never played a full season and finished lower than second in the race for the trophy. He has made the American League leaderboard his virtuoso front- and backyard since 2012, leaving his mark all over the place. Thus has been the case regardless if the Angels won the American League West — as they did in his MVP year of 2014 — or were scrapping the bottom of it, as they have the past two seasons.

Yes, although being at the still staggeringly young age of 25 (which he just turned last month), Trout has safely begun the early steps into being considered among the greatest to ever lace up a pair of cleats in center field. And while his early career totals of 164 home runs, 481 runs batted in, 890 hits and 579 runs scored pale in comparison to the final products of Willie Mays, Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, Ken Griffey Jr. or the player he is most regularly compared to, Mickey Mantle, his career is off to a nearly incomparable start — and it is not premature anymore to look at him as entering their lofty stratosphere.

It is fair to say that may be hyperbole and early to rush the crown to his young head, which could carry some truth. While the future cannot be predicted, what is already done is fact, and the facts about Trout all lead to him being in the handful of most unquestionably head and shoulders above the field, best players of any era.

Trout’s consistent level of pace-setting performances has seen him play at a 46.2 wins above replacement level since his rookie year of 2012. In layman’s terms, Trout has single-handedly produced a calendar month and a half worth's of victories based on his performance alone. He has led the American League in impact-measuring categories for four consecutive years, and if he does it again this summer — and he is a virtual lock to do so — he will ascend to indisputably historic heights. His fifth WAR title would make Trout one of just two hitters ever to lead a league in WAR for five straight years, with Babe Ruth the only other player to do so (Walter Johnson pulled off a five-year run as a pitcher in the mid-1920s).

A few players have pulled off a four-year stretch of such dominance, including Mantle, Mays, Albert Pujols and Barry Bonds. But no player has ever been able to match Ruth’s incredible run of uninterrupted dominance that he displayed in the late 1920s and into the '30s. During his incredible run at the top, Ruth went on the greatest run of offensive excellence in baseball history, averaging 50 home runs per season, hitting 302 regular-season bombs in total, including his record-setting 60-homer campaign amid the legendary "Murderers' Row" lineup in 1927. In addition to this, Ruth carried an unreal 1.206 OPS and four times drove in over 150 runs, while being walked 130 times in as many seasons. During this time span, Ruth produced a still unapproachable 62.8 WAR, as he literally redefined imaginations of what baseball was on a nightly basis.

It would seem that these numbers are beyond comprehension, and while Trout has “only” hit 40 home runs once and his top RBI and OPS seasons are at 111 and .991, respectively, his overall contribution over his current run has been staggering. He has a season of 49 stolen bases (Ruth never topped 11 during his run), and he has walked far fewer times while still producing three seasons of an on-base percentage north of .400. So while Ruth dominated the game via sheer, overwhelming, brute force, Trout has blended more portions of the game together in order to reach a comparable level of unquestioned supremacy.

Another thing that is important to realize is that Ruth led the AL in WAR in six consecutive years, while Trout is working on his fifth currently. Trout would need to keep on creating classics if he wants to surpass Ruth for both the consecutive seasons mark (it would take two more years), as well as the total years record (Ruth led the AL in WAR in 10 out of 12 seasons from 1920-31). However, if five-year stretches alone are compared, Trout is drifting very close to Ruth’s level of impact. Take away either of the book-end seasons of Ruth’s run, and Trout is within five games of the Babe’s total, and he still has a month to add on to his 8.8 2016 WAR total. That is truly hallowed ground and speaks volumes to just how potentially underappreciated Trout's year-in and year-out production is.

In a year when the American League MVP race appears to have such a wide level of candidates to consider, from Mookie Betts and David Ortiz to Jose Altuve, Josh Donaldson and more, it is important to realize that when looking back at the era years from now, history is being crafted by Trout in real time. And while he is a perennial contender for the award, he is also becoming a victim of limitless expectations as well. It would not be a crime to consider him the default MVP, unless there is a singular season of epic historical importance, if for no other reason than he could be the best player of the last 70 years. The numbers and distance between him and his contemporary peers certainly says so.

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