BIOGRAPHY
Mike Trout was born August 7, 1991, in Vineland, New Jersey. He is a center fielder in the MLB.
The Angels selected Trout in the first round of the 2009 MLB draft. He made a brief major league appearance in 2011 before becoming a regular player for the Angels the subsequent season, and won the 2012 AL Rookie of the Year Award unanimously.
Trout's athleticism on the field has received praise from both the mainstream media and sabermetricians. He is regarded as one of the most outstanding young players in the history of baseball, as well as one of the best current players in all of MLB. Trout led the American League in wins above replacement (WAR) in each of his first five full seasons (according to Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference.com).
Trout has led the American League in runs (2012–14, 2016) and times on base (2013, 2015–16, 2018) four times. As of February 2021, he leads all active major league ballplayers in career slugging percentage (.582) and on-base plus slugging (1.000), and was second in career on-base percentage (.418) and stolen base percentage (84.45%). In 2019, he signed a 12-year, $426 million contract with the Angels, the 2nd richest contract in the history of North American sports and 3rd in professional sports in general (and the 2nd biggest contract at the time of signing).
Trout batted second on Opening Day, taking the field for the first time since May 17, 2021. He went 1-for-3 at the plate with a walk. On May 21, Trout scored the 1,000th run of his career, becoming the second player in Angels history to score 1,000 or more runs for the franchise. During a five-game series against the Seattle Mariners in June, Trout became the first player in the history of either the American or National League to hit four game-winning home runs during a series, while becoming the fifth Angels player (and his second time) to hit 5 home runs in a series.
Trout came out of a game on July 12 due to back spasms and went on the injured list after a few days. He was diagnosed with a rare back disorder called costovertebral dysfunction. Trout returned from the injured list on August 19. He finished the 2022 season batting .283 with 40 home runs and 80 RBIs in 119 games.
