We’ve already established — on multiple occasions — how insanely good Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout is on the baseball diamond. The crazy thing, though, is that he keeps finding ways to get better.
On Opening Day, we marveled over a tremendous trend in his plate discipline. For the time being, that focus can shift to his home-run power.
Trout entered Tuesday’s action with the league lead in dingers, and he lengthened that lead on this swing.
.@MikeTrout will have 10 tacos to celebrate his 10th home run! 🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮 #oppotacotuesday pic.twitter.com/CATrnrX15B
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) April 25, 2018
He became baseball’s first hitter to reach double digits in homers, and he’s done it at a pace in which we’ve never seen from him. Check out the yearly progression below.
#Angels Mike Trout plate appearances to 10 home runs:
2011 – 5 HR in 135 PA
2012 – 266
2013 – 214
2014 – 212
2015 – 152
2016 – 176
2017 – 143
2018 – 106— Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder) April 25, 2018
How does his current pace compare to some other notable homer-heavy seasons in history? Ask, and you shall receive, my friends.
Plate appearances to 10 home runs:
1927 Babe Ruth – 153
1961 Roger Maris – 154
1998 Mark McGwire – 98
2001 Barry Bonds – 84
2018 Mike Trout – 106— Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder) April 25, 2018
Similar to Trout’s plate discipline, there’s been a trend in certain parts of his batted-ball profile that help explain something like this — especially when we make comparisons from 2016 on.
Combining an overall increase in fly balls with an overall increase in hard contact is never a bad thing, you guys. It’s also worth noting that Trout is occupying the top spot of the fWAR leaderboard with a 2.0 mark entering Wednesday’s action. It’s basically business as usual for the 26-year-old superstar.
Does him getting to 10 homers in 106 plate appearances actually mean anything in the long run? No, probably not — it’s not like we should be expecting him to hit 60 or 70 dingers. With 5 steals to his credit thus far, though, there’s at least a decent chance we could see a 30-30 or even a 40-40 season if he picks up that pace a little bit.
A lengthy stay on the disabled list robbed us of seeing what could’ve easily been Trout’s best overall performance in the big leagues last year. By the looks of it at the moment, he’s picked up where he left off in 2017. Let’s hope he stays healthy so we can see if he can somehow take his already-ridiculous numbers to the next level.
About Matt Musico
Matt Musico currently manages Chin Music Baseball and contributes to The Sports Daily. His past work has been featured at numberFire, Yahoo! Sports and Bleacher Report. He’s also written a book about how to become a sports blogger. You can sign up for his email newsletter here.
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