Mike Trout continues to rack up accolades at an historic rate after taking home his eighth career American League Silver Slugger Award on Thursday.
The 29-year-old Trout is the first player in MLB history to win his eighth Silver Slugger Award by his age-28 season. He also has the most
Mike Trout continues to rack up accolades at an historic rate after taking home his eighth career American League Silver Slugger Award on Thursday.
The 29-year-old Trout is the first player in MLB history to win his eighth Silver Slugger Award by his age-28 season. He also has the most Silver Sluggers among all active players.
• 2020 Silver Slugger Award winners
Regardless of age, only Barry Bonds (12) has earned more Silver Slugger Awards as an outfielder than Trout. The Angels star is tied for the second most among outfielders with Manny Ramirez, who won a ninth Silver Slugger as a designated hitter.
Trout has claimed a Silver Slugger in eight of his nine full big league seasons, with the lone exception coming in 2017, when he missed nearly two months with a torn ligament in his left thumb. That was also Trout’s only other full season prior to this year in which he did not finish either first or second in AL MVP voting. He finished fourth.
In addition to his eight Silver Slugger Awards, Trout’s decorated career already includes three AL MVP Awards (2014, ’16 and ’19), eight All-Star selections, two All-Star Game MVP Awards and the 2012 AL Rookie of the Year Award. His 74.4 wins above replacement since entering the league in ’11 is 27.7 more than his closest competitor (Cincinnati’s Joey Votto, 46.7 WAR). In fact, the gap between Trout and the second-ranked Votto is more than the gap between Votto and the 81st-ranked player (Martín Prado, 19.2 WAR) during that span.
Paul Casella is a reporter/editor for MLB.com based in Philadelphia. Follow him on Twitter @paul_casella.
