Jun 12, 2018; Seattle, WA, USA; Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout (27) reacts to his two run homer against the Seattle Mariners during the seventh inning at Safeco Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Mike Trout is too damn good for this league. The drop-off from Trout to the second-best player in MLB — you’ll get a variety of answers on who the second-best player actually is — is enormous, despite what some anonymous scouts may try to tell you.

Tuesday night’s 6-3 Angels’ loss was a perfect example of how things have gone most of the time for Trout over the last three seasons: he plays great baseball, and the Angels don’t (though, they’ve been better so far this year at 37-31 and certainly miss two-way star rookie Shohei Ohtani).

First, Trout robbed Nelson Cruz of a potential homer (or at least extra bases) in the bottom of the third inning:

Then in the top of the fifth, Trout somehow cranked this 0-2 slider from Mike Leake over the left-center field wall for a game-tying dinger:

And then he hit his second homer of the night in the seventh inning, for No. 23 on the year.

This comes after Trout cranked two homers in Game 1 of the series on Monday night, with the second homer on Monday being a 459-foot bomb:

Trout, 26, is already a six-time All-Star and two-time AL MVP (he probably should’ve won more MVPs, too). He’s been worth 60.6 Wins Above Replacement according to FanGraphs already and has been worth at least 8-WAR in five seasons (he was worth a nice 6.9 fWAR in 114 games last year, so it was just a matter of injury/games played holding it back).

And Trout is in the process of having quite possibly his best season yet:

  • Baseball Reference has him at 5.7-WAR, and that’s before his game on Tuesday night, so he’s going to be up to 6+. He’s gotten 10.5-WAR twice (2012 and 2016). We have a full month before the All-Star break and he’s on pace to blow by his career-best mark. Hell, he’s on pace to challenge the best WAR season in MLB history: 14.1-WAR by Babe Ruth in 1923.
  • He’s worth 5.6 fWAR, a full 1.2-WAR ahead of any other position player. His previous career-best fWAR is 10.1, which he did in 2013. He’s already more than halfway there and we have a month to go before the All-Star break.
  • He has a slash line of .310/.438/.682, good for a 1.120 OPS. His previous career-best OPS is 1.071, which he accomplished last season.
  • He has 23 homers, two more than anybody else in the majors. He’s on pace for 55 homers. His career-best dinger total is 41 homers, which he cranked in 2015.
  • He has a wRC+ of 202, and his previous career-best is 181. He also has a wOBA of .460, and his previous career-best is .437.
  • He has 13 stolen bases and is on pace for 31. He hasn’t been caught stealing this year.
  • His walk percentage is at 18.1%, just below his career-best mark (last year) of 18.5%.
  • He entered play on Tuesday credited with 8 Defensive Runs Saved, which would be the second-best mark of his career and has him ranked among the best defenders in baseball so far this season.

It’s just absurd to think this guy could be getting better, but he’s on pace to shatter some of his career-best marks and there’s little reason to bet against him doing it at this point. Major League Baseball truly isn’t even a challenge for him right now.

About Matt Clapp

Matt is an editor at The Comeback. He attended Colorado State University, wishes he was Saved by the Bell's Zack Morris, and idolizes Larry David. And loves pizza and dogs because obviously.

He can be followed on Twitter at @Matt2Clapp (also @TheBlogfines for Cubs/MLB tweets and @DaBearNecess for Bears/NFL tweets), and can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.