I grew up in an era surrounded by some of the greatest baseball talent my generation has ever witnessed. From the spark of Albert Pujols exploding onto the scene as a 21-year-old with the Cardinals, to the excitement of Bryce Harper and the historic path Aaron Judge is on. However, none have created more spotlight on themselves as some of the greatest talent to touch a baseball field than centerfielder Mike Trout. This story isn’t about how great Trout is—everyone and their mothers know Mike Trout is a top-ten centerfielder in Major League history, cementing himself behind some of the best like Willie Mays, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Ken Griffey Jr., just to name a few. In just 10 years of play, Trout has cemented himself quickly in the history books, and if he retired today, he would be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

In recent history, Trout has been nothing like his past self. He is a shadow of the man he used to be. Given that Trout is 34 years old and is not the young fish he used to be, the falloff he’s had with injuries needs to be studied. For his career, Mike Trout has 87 WAR, 1,745 hits, 399 home runs, a .294 batting average, 1,189 runs, 1,012 RBIs, 214 stolen bases, a .407 OBP, a .569 SLG, and a .976 OPS for an OPS+ of 169. He will always be elite, but if we base his career simply on the past three years, he has been nothing more than a 2-win player (2.9 WAR, 2023). This season has been Trout’s worst season by a significant margin, and it only makes you think: how many more seasons does Trout have in the league before he truly calls it quits and hangs up the cleats?

Mike Trout played in his most games since 2023 when he played in 119 games and finished 8th in MVP voting with an All-Star nod and 6.1 WAR. This season has been a total reverse. In 2025, he has 97 hits, 21 home runs, 66 runs, 58 RBIs, 2 stolen bases, for a stat line of .231/.361/.417/.778 with an OPS+ of 115. He is only worth 1 win above replacement on Baseball Reference. To put that in perspective, he played in 29 games last year and had a 1.1 WAR with an OPS north of .850. He has played in four times the amount of games he had last year, so injuries aren’t as serious of a concern for the legend as they were before. But for him to hardly be a league-average player after years of dominance makes you question how hard he fell to the ground.

Trout has not been himself lately, and the injury bug as well as age have caught up to the icon. Let’s examine it back in 2023, when he fractured his left hamate bone and was placed on the 10-day IL in early July. He tried to come back later that year in August, but further wrist pain put him back on the IL, causing him to miss the rest of the season.

After missing the rest of 2023, Trout wanted to rebound fully and return to being a consistent weapon for the Angels. However, in 2024, it was the same story. Mike Trout suffered an injury to his left meniscus twice and had surgery in May right at the beginning of the season. During a rehab stint to try and come back, desperate for MLB playing time, he suffered another tear in the same meniscus, leading to another surgery that cut his season short yet again.

This year, he suffered a bone bruise and was placed on the 10-day IL back in early May, similar to his injury in 2023. Fortunately for Trout, the baseball gods gifted him no structural damage to his bone, but the injury still kept him out of what he loves doing most. Since then, Mike Trout has done his best to revamp and get back to the player he once was. Although it’s been an uphill battle, since making his return from the IL, in 156 at-bats Trout has 16 home runs, 29 RBIs, 30 runs, and a .308 batting average. Mind you, 156 at-bats equates roughly to 39 games, so it is a small sample size, but Trout has been trying harder than ever to get back to his original form.

From 2011–2022, a 12-year block, Trout solidified himself as an all-time force with 82 WAR. But since then, he has only accumulated 5 WAR. This injury bug has been plaguing Trout, preventing him from reaching even greater heights, though I don’t know how he can do much more to boost his résumé when he is literally the only centerfielder with Yankee legends Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle to win the MVP three times. It is just unfortunate to see the potential of what could have been. His first real injury came back in 2017, when he tore the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his left thumb while sliding into second base. All greats go through some sort of struggle, and seeing him bounce back optimistic every year shows the dedication he has not just for himself but for the league.

What does a team do when a player of Mike Trout’s caliber suddenly goes down a deep spiral from being one of the greats to being just an above-average replacement player? Call in Jo Adell. Ironically enough, Jo Adell for his career has been less than an above-average player for the Angels, but when the Angels desperately needed someone to pick up Trout’s slack, Jo Adell was that guy who answered the call. A career 92 OPS+, .221 batting average, .279 OBP, .422 SLG, .700 OPS player, he has broken out in a measurable way.

In 140 games for the Angels, Jo Adell has 116 hits, 36 home runs, 58 runs, 95 RBIs, and 5 stolen bases, for a stat line of .241/.300/.505/.805 with an OPS+ of 118. With this level of production, you would only assume he would be worth at least 3 WAR, but due to his terrible defense in center field, his WAR dropped to 1.7. It is the first season where Jo Adell is outperforming Trout in nearly every stat. After six years of struggling to stay consistent, the top-10 draft pick finally broke out as the player the Angels believed he would be—and it came at the perfect time.

Overall, players are going to go through stretches of poor baseball, and that is typical in a game as demanding as baseball. Putting your body on the line for 162 games and every offseason is tiring, and for most players, there comes a time when pure raw talent cannot compete with the nature of the human body. What is happening to Trout is unfortunate, but there is nothing disappointing about his career—it only shows that even the most incredible talents go through years of slump and disarray where they aren’t themselves. The Trout is out of water, but the baseball gods gifted an Angel with a second chance at redemption. While one chapter closes, with Trout’s legacy turning toward a plaque in Cooperstown, another chapter opens with young promise ready to carry the game forward.