The Los Angeles Angels defeated the Oakland Athletics 5-3 in the middle game of the weekend series, and when Mike Trout scored on an RBI single in the sixth inning, he secured his name with a few of MLB’s greatest all-time players.
When Luis Rengifo slapped an infield single that brought Trout home, he became the second player in Angels franchise history to score 1,000 career runs, joining Garret Anderson who sits at 1,024.
This season, Trout is playing like the perennial MVP candidate the baseball world has seen since his debut, and now joins Willie Mays & Alex Rodriguez as the third player in league history with at least 1,000 runs, 300 home runs, and 200 stolen bases by their age-30 season.
The Angels got quite the catch with Trout at the 25th pick in the 2009 MLB Draft and in his 12th season he has already joined some of the game’s all-time greats, via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com:
“It’s pretty cool,” Trout said. “Obviously, when I get on base you have to have guys drive you in. So it’s pretty special, but even though it’s an individual statistic, you need to have people driving you in. So I have to give it up for my teammates.”
Trout is already a surefire Hall of Fame player, and his 1.133 on-base plus slugging, 12 home runs, and American League-leading 35 runs scored once again indicates how great he is:
“To be in that group is special,” Trout said. “To be able to do it for this long and to accomplish that is pretty cool.”
It only took Trout 1,325 games to reach the 1,000 runs scored milestone, and the only players who reached that mark faster in the last 60 years were Ricky Henderson (1,252), Rodriguez (1,261), Kenny Lofton (1,305), and Albert Pujols (1,306):
“He got there very quickly, which is not unusual for him,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said. “It’s quite the achievement. And, of course, he’s been playing with some pretty good guys who have driven him in. But he’s also been setting the table.”
The three-time MVP, Rookie of the Year, nine-time All-Star, and eight-time Silver Slugger, has nothing left to prove in an already historic career, except the elusive World Series title, but he won’t be short of enough individual accolades to make him the ‘model’ of a near-perfect ballplayer.
Trout feels great with his new routine
Trout has already played more games in the 2022 season (37) than he did all of last year (36), and he has returned from his injury in a big way.
The superstar outfielder is batting .310/.422/.667 with a .462 wOBA and 213 wRC+, which would both be career-highs for Trout. He has also added 11 home runs, 33 runs scored, and 24 RBI in 154 plate appearances.
It’s no shock that Trout is producing at Hall of Fame levels on the field, but it would have been hard to predict he would return to form so soon and play better than ever after missing nearly all of the 2021 season. But he credits some of that to a new routine that has him feeling good.
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