Mike Trout: Still the Same?
August 28, 2025 - Written by Alex Sukyas
Photo Credit: @MLBTradeRumors - X
Angels’ star OF/DH Mike Trout has been in a slump recently. In his last 10 games, the 3x MVP has hit .219 without a HR. On the season, Trout is batting .237 with 20 HRs. This is somewhat concerning once you compare this season to ones he’s had in the past where he’s batted .326 with 30 HRs. (2012) Or the season where he batted .291 with 45 HRs. (2019) That raises the question, is Mike Trout still the superstar we know and love? And if he isn’t, what happened?
Past Seasons
Let’s start off by going back to 2012, Mike Trout’s rookie of the year season. At age 20, nothing much could stop him. The baseball world watched Trout bat .326 with 30 HRs and 49 Stolen Bases, as a rookie! This allowed him to win the AL Rookie of the Year honor and place 2nd in AL MVP voting, beating MLB legends such as Adrian Beltre, Derek Jeter, and Robinson Cano. 2 years later, in 2014, the baseball world watched Trout bat .287 with 36 HRs and 111 RBIs. This season allowed him to win his first MVP award, as he won by a landslide with 420 total vote points. Mike Trout would also have an impressive 2015 season, batting .299 with 41 HRs, but getting 2nd in MVP voting. Then in 2016, he had what is arguably his best season. In this season, the baseball world watched Trout bat .315 with 29 HRs and a .441 OBP. Trout would win his second MVP, beating Mookie Betts and Jose Altuve. Now we fast forward to his 2018 & 2019 seasons, where in 2018, trout batted .312 with 39 HRs, just losing the MVP honors to a .346 batting Mookie Betts. In 2019, Trout would bat .291 with a whopping 45 HRs and 104 RBIs. This would allow him to win his 3rd MVP, beating Houston’s Alex Bregman by 20 points. That was Trout’s last healthy season. Since that year (and excluding 2025) we’ve only seen Trout have 1 season where he played over 100 games, that being in 2022, where he played 119 games, batting .283 with 40 HRs.
What Happened?
The reason for Trout’s regression can be blamed on various reasons, but theres 1 big reason that sticks out more than any other possible reason. That being Age and Injuries. To start, in 2021, trout was in his age 29 season, when in mid May, trout suffered a right calf strain, he was initially expected to miss 6-8 weeks, but a setback caused him to miss the remainder of that season. Fast forward to 2023, Mike Trout was in his age 31 season, where we saw him only play 82 games due to a fractured hamate bone in his left hand. This was due to being hit in the hand by a ball in a game vs the San Diego Padres in early July. Thai injury would once again sit him out for the rest of the season. The following year, 2024, trout would tear his meniscus after 29 games. Thai would cause him to need surgery, which he recovered then retore the same meniscus in a rehab game for Triple A Salt Lake. Now in 2025, Trout did suffer a bone bruise on his torn knee, but wasn't ruled out for long and is currently healthy.
What Next?
If you remember at the beginning of the season, the Angels announced that they were moving Trout from CF to RF to help reduce injury. However, Trout has only played 22 games in right field this season, DHing the rest. Now, as a DH Trout has been thriving health wise, so whats the reason to not move him to DH full time? A move like this would eliminate a risk of being injured while defending, allowing for the Angels to take full advantage of what he can do offensively without much worry of seeing Trout sit out long periods of time. Now as for the question is Mike Trout still the same player we know and love? Yes he is. Sure age has caught up to him, but when healthy he is still able to do his job on offense. Look at 2023, he only played roughly half the games, yet he still had 18 HRs with a .263 BA. Now lets say he was to play the whole season, he would’ve had around 36 HRs. (in theory) So yes, while Trout isn’t as good as he used to be, he’s still a key part of the team when healthy.
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