Talent Comparison: Trout vs. Bonds

Talent Comparison: Trout vs. Bonds

            Mike Trout is the arguably the best player in baseball with the ability to hit for contact and power at a level that is not matched by many.  That isn’t his only weapon in his arsenal though; Trout is faster than any 230lb man as any right to be.  Stealing 30 bases a year would be easy for Trout, though this year his team is holding him back.  When I look at Trout and all he can do I think of one player; Barry Bonds.

Mike Trout

	BB%	K%	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	ISO	BABIP	wSB	wOBA	wRC+	WAR
2014	11.9%	24.8%	.289	.377	.560	.937	.271	.343	1.9	.402	165	5.6

Barry Bonds

	BB%	K%	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	ISO	BABIP	wSB	wOBA	wRC+	WAR
1992	20.8%	11.3%	.311	.456	.624	1.080	.313	.300	4.6	.459	198	9.6

            Bonds was a special player even this early into his career and its curious to see how different Bonds was back in 1992 compared to what Trout is now.  Bonds had great discipline at the plate and was able to draw walks more often than he would strike out.  Trout is closer to the league average when it comes to strike outs and walks.  The fact that Bonds was on base more because of his ability to walk it opened up more opportunities to steal bases which is why we see such a difference in the wSB.  This isn’t all Trout’s fault on this one though since the Angels have really held him back from stealing bases this year.

            Trout and Bonds have a gap in power but Trout still has time to catch up to Bonds and will likely do just that.  Bonds had 36 doubles, 6 triples and 34 HR’s while Trout currently is at 33 doubles, 5 triples and 27 HR’s so there’s still plenty of time.  The ISO difference is more to the HR difference and Trout is hitting a HR every 17 plate appearances so if Trout end the season with similar PA as last year he will end up with 35 HR’s but we shall see if that happens.

            What we’ve learning is that Trout is a very special player in this day and age and at only 23 has plenty of time to get better.  However when compared to a hitter like Barry Bonds it’s a different story; Bonds and Trout are from different ages and it shows.  Bonds comes from an age where drawing out at-bats and making a pitcher work hard on every encounter.  Trout comes from an age where aggressive hitting rules and hitters punish more for mistakes but AB’s don’t last as long as they did before.  Both are valid options and when it comes to Trout we could see the next great player but no one will be the next Barry Bonds.