He cared about who was coming up around him and the foundation of the organization, even as it shifted around him. The pair did enjoy one blockbuster moment together, but it came in March 2023, when Trout’s Team USA faced off against Ohtani’s Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic final. In front of 6.5 million viewers, Trout came to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and Team USA trailing 3-2.

Hit By Pitch

• On May 28, 2017, Trout left the game after spraining his left thumb.
• In summer 2016, Trout planned to propose to his longtime girlfriend, Jessica Cox, via skywriting.
• It’s the third weekend in January 2013, and it’s unseasonably warm in New York, with temperatures climbing into the low 50s.
• They haven’t won a postseason game since 2009, the year Trout was drafted.
• Trout and the Angels returned to the playoffs in 2014, falling to the Kansas City Royals in a three-game ALDS sweep.
• A trade seems especially unlikely now, given Trout’s age, injury history, declining performance and a contract that still has roughly $190 million on it.
• Harper, perhaps the most touted prospect of all time — a Sports Illustrated cover story dubbed him “The Chosen One” as a 16-year-old — received 16 of 28 first-place votes in a standout first full season for the Washington Nationals.

Was the first American League center fielder to accomplish the feat since Curtis Granderson in 2012 and just the fourth (fifth occurrence) to do so since 2000. Reached the century mark in runs scored for the fourth consecutive season… First player in franchise history to lead the team in runs scored four consecutive seasons.

• When Jeter was coming up, he and everyone wanted to be Ken Griffey, Jr., the most popular player in the game, despite playing in Seattle, a relative baseball backwater.
• Banks was an icon, but his stats pale in comparison to Trout, who owns a WAR of 87.5, the highest ever for a modern player who hasn’t won a postseason game.
• He hit for the cycle at 21, the youngest AL player ever to do so.
• Joined Alex Rodriguez, Jimmie Foxx, Jose Canseco and Joe DiMaggio as the only players in American League history to hit 30 home runs five-or-more times before their age-27 season…Also join Alex Rodriguez and Mickey Mantle as the only A.L.
• Now 34, Trout is coming off the worst offensive full season of his career, one in which he played in 130 games but faded from the sport’s consciousness.
• Trout has led the American League in runs (2012–14, 2016) and times on base (2013, 2015–16, 2018) four times.5 In 2019, he signed a 12-year, $426 million contract with the Angels, one of the richest contracts ever in professional sports and the second-biggest contract at the time of signing.

Slugging Percentage

At the time, he was batting .337 and led the Angels with 16 home runs.124 Two days later, an MRI revealed the injury was a torn ulnar collateral ligament, and he was placed on the disabled list for the first time in his major league career. It marked the fourth time in six seasons that Trout had homered on his birthday. Played flawless defense in 156 games in center field (1362.2 innings)… Was the first afrodite casino Angels center fielder to play at least 150 games in a single season without committing an error and just the second Halo outfielder to do so (Brian Downing in 1982)…

Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year

The front office has also turned over, with four general managers since Trout was drafted. The only constant has been Moreno, who briefly put the Angels up for sale in 2022 before changing his mind. It wasn’t unusual for him to talk about prospects, particularly minor-league hitters, with members of the team’s front office late into the night.

All-MLB First Team

In summer 2016, Trout planned to propose to his longtime girlfriend, Jessica Cox, via skywriting. A plane would write the message in the air — “Will you marry me, Jess? However, Trout got the forecast wrong, and the planes had to be called off and rescheduled for a break in the weather. For years, the hashtag #FreeMikeTrout has popped up during baseball season. Since signing that mega-deal, Trout has had five managers, including interim managers (the Angels hired a sixth, Kurt Suzuki, last month).

WBC All-Tournament Team

Logged 39 home runs the second-most of career (41 HR in 2015)…Marked third 35+ home run season, the most in franchise history. Joined Alex Rodriguez, Jimmie Foxx, Jose Canseco and Joe DiMaggio as the only players in American League history to hit 30 home runs five-or-more times before their age-27 season…Also join Alex Rodriguez and Mickey Mantle as the only A.L. Players all-time to amass seven seasons of 20+ home runs prior to their age-27 season…
Trout and the Angels returned to the playoffs in 2014, falling to the Kansas City Royals in a three-game ALDS sweep. They haven’t won a postseason game since 2009, the year Trout was drafted. Some of baseball’s biggest stars congregate at the New York Hilton to collect the prestigious Baseball Writers Association of America Awards for the previous season, including MVPs Miguel Cabrera and Buster Posey and young stars Mike Trout and Bryce Harper, named Rookies of the Year for the American and National Leagues, respectively. The official YouTube Kids app is designed for curious little minds.

Topps/Minor League Player of the Year

Ohtani, who was brought in to pitch the game’s final frame after going 1 for 3 as Japan’s designated hitter, struck him out swinging to win the tournament. They finally got one, and Trout promptly pulled off a highway exit — and into a hotel parking lot in Irvine, where he popped the question. Afterward, he drove to the event, smiled and took photos with the kids as if nothing had happened.
A back injury in 2022 cost him 30 games, and a fractured hamate bone in 2023 forced him to miss all but one of the Angels’ final 75 games. In nearly all of those cases, Trout’s rehab process lasted longer than initially expected. By the time he was entering the final year of his extension, Trout had already amassed Hall of Fame numbers. But the Angels weren’t seen as an up-and-coming team anymore, coming off of three sub-.500 seasons in which they finished 20-plus games out of the AL West lead — not to mention the July 2019 overdose death of Skaggs, which implicated a team staffer and cast a pall over the organization. Trout won a Silver Slugger for his offensive prowess and a Fielding Bible Award for exceptional center-field defense. His 10.5 WAR season was so good — only Aaron Judge (10.8 in 2022 and 2024) and Mookie Betts (10.7 in 2018) have produced better campaigns since — that it sparked serious debate in the MVP race.