Draft and minor leagues The Angels selected Trout, using their compensation pick from the
New York Yankees for their signing of
Mark Teixeira, 25th overall in the
2009 MLB draft. He signed a contract including a $1.215 million bonus with the Angels on July 2, 2009, foregoing his commitment to play college baseball at East Carolina. He started his professional career out of high school in 2009 playing for the
Arizona Angels of the
rookie-level Arizona League (AZL), hitting .360 with a .418 OBP and .506 SLG with one home run, 25
runs batted in (RBIs), and 13
stolen bases in 187 plate appearances over 39 games. He was beaten out in being named AZL Most Valuable Player by
Cody Decker. He finished the season playing for the
Cedar Rapids Kernels of the
Class A Midwest League, hitting .267 over 20 plate appearances in five games. He started the season playing for Cedar Rapids, where he hit .362 with a .454
on-base percentage (OBP) and a .526
slugging percentage (SLG) with six home runs, 39 RBIs, and 45 stolen bases in 82 games. He was selected to play in the
All-Star Futures Game. In July,
Baseball America named Trout the second-best overall baseball prospect. After the Futures game, he was promoted to the
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the
Class A-Advanced California League. After the 2010 season, Trout received the
Topps Minor League Player of the Year Award; at just 19 years and 2 months, he became the youngest player to win the award. He was also named a
Baseball America All-Star as well as a Topps Class A All-Star. Prior to the 2011 season, Trout was ranked number one by
ESPN's
Keith Law in his 2011 top 100 prospects list and by MLB's Jonathan Mayo. Trout started the 2011 season with the
Arkansas Travelers of the
Class AA Texas League. He hit .324 with nine home runs, 27 RBIs, and 28 stolen bases in his first 75 games. In his next game, Trout recorded his first career major league hit, an infield single against
Seattle Mariners pitcher
Michael Pineda in the bottom of the third inning. He hit his first major league home run against
Baltimore Orioles pitcher
Mark Worrell on July 24. Trout was sent back to Double-A Arkansas on August 1, 2011, after hitting .163 with one home run and six runs batted in 12 starts for the Angels. After spending time back in Double-A Arkansas, Trout was recalled by the Angels on August 19, 2011. That night, he went 1-for-4 with a home run, his first at
Angel Stadium. On August 30, Trout became the youngest Angel to hit two home runs in one game, homering off Mariners pitcher
Anthony Vasquez in the top of the second inning and again in the top of the fourth inning. In his 40-game rookie big league stint in 2011, Trout's batting average was .220, while his on-base percentage was .281 and his slugging percentage .390. For the 2011 season, of the 13 votes cast for the
USA Today Minor League Player of the Year Award, Trout received the two votes allocated to the fan poll. He was named
Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year after hitting .326/.414/.544 with 11 home runs, 38 RBIs, 82 runs scored, and 33 stolen bases in 91 games. He was again named an outfielder on
Baseball Americas 2011 Minor League All-Star team.
American League Rookie of the Year (2012) of a home run, June 27, 2012. Trout began the 2012 season with the
Salt Lake Bees of the
Triple-A Pacific Coast League. On April 28, he was again brought up from the minors, this time to replace
Bobby Abreu (who was batting .208 in 24 at-bats). At that time, Trout had a .403 batting average, a .467 on-base percentage, and a .623 slugging percentage in 20 games with Salt Lake. Trout recorded his first career four-hit game on June 4 (and his second 15 days later). In the process, he scored all four times and two of his four hits went for doubles. Trout, along with Angels right fielder
Torii Hunter, was named American League co-Player of the Week for June 4–10. During that stretch, Trout went 13-for-25 for a .520
batting average to go along with 10 runs scored and four stolen bases. On June 27 against the
Baltimore Orioles, Trout had his third career four-hit game in the same month. In the same game, he showed off his defensive skills when he robbed Orioles shortstop
J. J. Hardy of a home run as he leaped up in the center-field wall to make a spectacular catch in the bottom of the first inning. Trout broke both an Angels' franchise and American League rookie record when he crossed home plate in 14 consecutive games after scoring a run in a game on July 22. Trout's 26 stolen bases tied
Jerry Remy for the team's rookie record for most stolen bases by the All-Star Break. Playing in his first
All-Star Game, Trout singled off of
New York Mets pitcher
R. A. Dickey in the bottom of the 6th inning and drew a base on balls against
Cincinnati Reds pitcher
Aroldis Chapman in the bottom of the 7th. In the month of June, Trout batted .372 with three home runs and 16 RBI and was named AL Player of the Month and AL Rookie of the Month. Angels manager
Mike Scioscia explained Trout's impact by saying, "It's a pleasant surprise only with the fact that you see very few guys come up and do this much. Is it surprising that Mike Trout's talent is able to produce what's happening on the field? No, that's not a surprise. He's an extraordinary talent." Trout's 34 runs scored in July tied the Major League rookie record with
Cleveland Indians first baseman
Hal Trosky in 1934. He had a .392 batting average, 10 home runs, and 23
runs batted in. In addition, Trout continued to show his speed by stealing nine bases and scoring 32 runs in July. Trout also became the first rookie to drive in at least 55 runs and score 80 runs in 81 games since
Joe DiMaggio in 1936." Against the
Chicago White Sox on August 4, Trout made another highlight catch, robbing second baseman
Gordon Beckham of a home run in the second inning.
White Sox catcher
A. J. Pierzynski told reporters after the game that Trout "makes those catches in the outfield look so good.". On August 21, Trout went 2-for-4 in a victory over the
Boston Red Sox, raising his batting average to .344. With the .344 average, Trout set the rookie record for batting average through 100 games. Trout became the youngest player ever to hit at least 20 home runs and steal at least 40 bases in a season.
Houston Astros center fielder
César Cedeño had been the youngest player to accomplish the feat, doing so in 1972. He also became the youngest hitter ever to hit at least 20 home runs and steal at least 30 bases in a season. Trout scored his 100th run of the season on August 26, becoming the second Angels rookie to score at least 100 runs in a season after
Devon White. Trout set a new Angels record for runs scored in a rookie season, passing White. Trout scored three runs that day, the tenth time in the 2012 season that he scored three or more runs in one game, the most since
Sammy Sosa's 11 games in 2001. On September 9, in a game against the
Detroit Tigers, Trout became the first player in baseball history under the age of 22 to hit a leadoff home run in back-to-back games. On September 21, Trout became the first rookie to score 120 or more runs since
Ichiro Suzuki and the fourth rookie to accomplish that feat since 1964. On September 30, Trout became the youngest player in Major League Baseball history to join the
30–30 club when he belted a 7th-inning home run off of
Texas Rangers pitcher
Yu Darvish, helping the Angels win the game by a score of 5–4. Trout became the first player in MLB history to hit 30 home runs, steal 45 bases, and score 125 runs in one season. Trout set the Angels' club record for most runs scored in a season, surpassing
Vladimir Guerrero. He also set the Angels rookie record for most hits in a season with 173, passing
Wally Joyner. Trout became the first rookie ever to hit 30 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season. In addition, Trout finished second in the AL in
batting average (.326), third in
slugging percentage (.564), third in
on-base percentage (.399), second in OPS (.963), 9th in hits (182), and first in OPS+ (171). He became the first Angels player to lead the league in stolen bases since
Chone Figgins did so in 2005 with 49 stolen bases. He led the American League in
power-speed number (37.2). According to
Baseball-Reference.com, Trout finished with a
wins above replacement (WAR) value of 10.9, 2.4 better than second-place finisher
Robinson Canó of the Yankees. Trout was the first position player to have a WAR above 10 since
Barry Bonds for the
San Francisco Giants in 2004. Trout led the Angels in batting average, runs scored, hits (182), triples, stolen bases,
total bases (315), base on balls, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and on-base plus slugging despite playing in just 139 games. He was tied with
Albert Pujols for second place on the team in
home runs behind
Mark Trumbo and was fourth in runs batted in. On November 12, 2012, Trout won the
Rookie of the Year Award, receiving all 28 first-place votes, becoming the first Angels player to win the award since
Tim Salmon won it in 1993 and the youngest player to win the AL Rookie of the Year Award. Trout became just the 18th Rookie of the Year winner to win the award unanimously. On November 13, Trout won the
Heart and Hustle Award, given to the player who "demonstrates a passion for the game of baseball and best embodies the values, spirit and traditions of the game.” Trout was one of three outfielders in the American League to win the
Silver Slugger for being the best offensive players at their position; the others were then-Ranger
Josh Hamilton and
Josh Willingham of the
Minnesota Twins. He also won a
Fielding Bible Award as the best fielding center fielder in MLB. Trout's high WAR value led many to support his candidacy for American League
Most Valuable Player. In supporting Trout's case,
Jayson Stark wrote, "We just understand that Trout's insane 10.5 WAR are one more clear indication that he's a better baseball player than even one of the greatest hitters of our lifetimes. ... If you want to toss in his slash line, his 62 extra-base hits, his 92.3 percent stolen-base success rate or any other item on his stat sheet, you'll find that no player in the history of baseball has combined this much excellence in so many areas in the same season." On November 15, Cabrera won the MVP decisively, winning 22 of 28 first-place votes, as Trout received the other six.
2013 Trout began the 2013 season as a left fielder to accommodate for
Peter Bourjos in center field. He started season slowly, hitting .261 with two home runs and 16 RBIs in April. During a game on April 20 against the
Detroit Tigers, Trout hit his first career grand slam off pitcher
Rick Porcello, capping a 10-run inning for the Angels, their highest-scoring inning in almost 18 years. On April 30, Bourjos injured his hamstring, and Trout was moved back to center field. In May, Trout regained his rookie-year form, batting .327 with 8 home runs, 21 RBIs, and 27 runs scored. On May 21, 2013, Trout became the youngest player to
hit for the cycle in American League history and sixth youngest in Major League history, doing so at home against the
Seattle Mariners. On May 30, Angels manager
Mike Scioscia announced that Trout would return to left field after Bourjos returned from the disabled list. This decision caused some controversy, as some believed that Trout's successful May was a direct result of his move back to center field. On June 8, with shortstop
Erick Aybar struggling at the leadoff spot, Trout began batting leadoff, marking his first time hitting in the leadoff spot since April 14. In his first game batting leadoff since mid-April, Trout went 3-for-5, with two doubles, a run batted in, scored two runs, had a
base on balls, and stole a base, helping the Angels win the game over the
Boston Red Sox in the first game of a doubleheader. Trout indeed moved back to left field after Bourjos returned to the Angels' lineup on June 10. In his 249th career game, he scored his 200th career run, becoming the fastest player to accomplish this since
Ted Williams (225 games) and
Barney McCosky (236 games) did it in 1940. Trout represented the Angels in the
2013 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. He was the leading vote-getter among all AL outfielders and the first Angels position player to start in the All-Star Game since
Vladimir Guerrero in 2007. In July, Trout led all of baseball with an on-base percentage of .475 and OPS of 1.108. Trout continued his strong play in August, batting .337 with 6 home runs and an on-base percentage of .500. Notably, Trout's walk rate increased from 10.5% in 2012 to 15.4% in 2013.
First AL Most Valuable Player Award (2014) Rumors of a contract extension surfaced in February 2014, as news outlets reported that the Angels were considering offering Trout a six-year, $150 million contract. Instead, he signed a one-year, $1 million contract. That figure is the highest ever for a player not yet eligible for
salary arbitration. On March 28, 2014, the Angels announced they had signed Trout to a six-year, $144.5 million extension. On April 19, 2014, Trout went 0–4 with four consecutive strikeouts against
Max Scherzer, giving him his first
golden sombrero after playing in 353 games. On May 15, Trout hit his first career walk-off home run in a 6–5 victory over the
Tampa Bay Rays. On July 15, Trout appeared in his third
All-Star Game at
Target Field in Minnesota. He went 2 for 3, with a double, a triple, and two RBIs. He was named the
Most Valuable Player of the game, making him the second-youngest All-Star Game MVP behind
Ken Griffey Jr. in 1992. On June 27, Trout hit the longest home run of the 2014 season, according to ESPN.com's Home Run Tracker. The ball was hit 489 feet into left-center field at
Kauffman Stadium,
Kansas City, Missouri. Playing in 157 games in 2014, Trout batted .287 with 36 home runs, 39 doubles, nine triples, an AL-leading 111 RBIs, 16 stolen bases and an MLB-leading 115 runs scored. He also struck out a league-high 184 times. In an interview with
Ken Rosenthal, Trout attributed his increased strikeouts to a "golf swing." Nevertheless, Trout added he was working with staff to fix and correct the strikeout tendency, and what may have been the only significant flaw of his all-around game. In Game 3 of the
2014 American League Division Series against the
Kansas City Royals, Trout hit his first career postseason home run in the first inning off of
James Shields. Later on in the ninth inning, Trout was the final batter of the Angels to strike out as the team lost to the Royals in a three-game sweep of the series.
2015 On April 17, 2015, Trout became the youngest player in MLB history to reach 100 home runs and 100 stolen bases. He was 23 years and 253 days old when he reached the milestone, passing the previous record-holder,
Alex Rodriguez, who had achieved it at the age of 23 years and 309 days in 1999. For the second year in a row, Trout won the All-Star Game MVP Award, becoming the first player ever to win it in consecutive years. On September 22, Trout hit his 40th home run, becoming only the second Angels player to hit 40 home runs in a season. Trout led the
AL in
WAR for the fourth straight year. Trout finished the season with 41 home runs and 90 RBIs. He also led all American League players in
slugging percentage and
OPS, with a
slash line of .299/.402/.590. For his offensive performance, Trout won his fourth
Silver Slugger Award in as many seasons. In doing so, he became only the second player since
Mike Piazza to win four straight Silver Sluggers to start off a career. He also won the
Best Major League Baseball Player ESPY Award. On November 10, it was announced that Trout, along with
Royals outfielder
Lorenzo Cain and
Blue Jays third baseman
Josh Donaldson, were finalists for the
AL MVP. Trout became the first player since
Barry Bonds to be among the top three in MVP voting in four straight seasons. On November 19, Trout finished second to MVP winner Donaldson, making it the third time he finished second in MVP voting in his four big-league seasons.
Second AL MVP (2016) in an interleague game in 2017 In June
2016,
Sporting News named Trout "baseball's best [active] player". According to
FanGraphs, he had accumulated more WAR through his age-24 season (on August 12, 2016) than any other player since 1913, with 45.
Mickey Mantle was second with 41.1, followed by
Mel Ott,
Jimmie Foxx, and
Ted Williams. A veteran contemporary of Trout's,
Alex Rodriguez, was seventh. In 159 games of 2016, Trout led MLB with walks (116), runs scored (123), and on-base percentage (.441). He also had a .315 batting average, 29 home runs, 30 stolen bases, and 100 RBI. He led the American League in
power-speed number (29.5). Trout also joined
Barry Bonds as the only other player in MLB history to finish top 2 for the MVP in five straight seasons. He was the 2016
Esurance MLB/
This Year in Baseball Award winner for Best Major Leaguer. At the conclusion of the 2016 season, Trout was 12th among active position players in Total Wins Above Replacement through just five full seasons.
2017 On May 28,
2017, Trout left the game after spraining his left thumb. At the time, he was batting .337 and led the Angels with 16 home runs. Two days later, an MRI revealed the injury was a torn
ulnar collateral ligament, and he was placed on the disabled list for the first time in his major league career. The injury required surgery, and he was ruled out for six to eight weeks. On May 31, he underwent successful thumb surgery. He was voted to be a starting outfielder for the American League in the
All-Star Game, but did not play due to his thumb injury. Trout was activated from the disabled list on July 14 after missing 39 games. In his next at-bat, he hit a home run for his 1,001st hit. It marked the fourth time in six seasons that Trout had homered on his birthday. On September 6, 2017, against the
Oakland Athletics, Trout drew a walk in his 14th consecutive contest to pass
Albie Pearson for the franchise record of 13 set in
1961. He hit his 200th career home run off of
Marco Gonzales of the
Seattle Mariners on September 29, 2017. Trout became the seventh player in history to reach 200 or more home runs before the end of his age-25 season, following Jimmie Foxx,
Eddie Mathews,
Mickey Mantle,
Mel Ott,
Frank Robinson, Alex Rodriguez, and
Albert Pujols. Trout played in a career low 114 games due to injury but led the team in runs (92), home runs (33), stolen bases (22), walks (94), and in batting average (.306). End of season awards for Trout included selection as center fielder on
Baseball Americas All-MLB Team.
2018 before the
2018 Major League Baseball All-Star Game Prior to the
2018 season,
Sports Illustrated rated Trout the #1 player in baseball. He achieved his first career five-hit game on May 26 at
Yankee Stadium, going 5-for-5 with three doubles and a home run. He also set single-game career highs in doubles, extra-base hits (four), and total bases (11). Previously, he had collected four hits in a game 13 times. The Angels defeated
New York 11–4. He homered twice in each of consecutive games against the
Seattle Mariners on June 11 and 12, doing so for the first time in his career, while totaling a then MLB leading 23 home runs. In a span of eight games through June 19, he reached base in 29 of 37 plate appearances to bat .696/.778/1.261 with a 2.039 OPS. Batting .312 with 25 home runs and 50 RBIs, Trout was named a starting outfielder for the
2018 MLB All-Star Game. He went 1–2 with a home run and a walk. On August 10, 2018, Trout was placed on the disabled list due to right wrist inflammation. For the season, he batted .312 (4th in the league)/.460 (leading the league)/.628 (3rd), with 101 runs scored (9th), 39 home runs (4th), 79 RBIs, 24 stolen bases (9th), a 92.31 stolen base percentage (2nd), 12.1 at bats per home run (2nd), and a 29.7
power-speed number (4th). He had the highest
ISO (Isolated Power) of all MLB players in 2018, at .316. On defense, he led AL outfielders with a 1.000 fielding percentage. but was later surpassed by
Patrick Mahomes' 10-year $503 million contract with the
Kansas City Chiefs on July 6, 2020. Following the April home series against the Texas Rangers, Trout was named AL Player of the Week for the fourth time in his career. Trout went on to make his eighth straight All-Star Game. During the game, he honored his late teammate and friend
Tyler Skaggs by wearing his number 45. Trout surpassed
Barry Bonds to become the youngest player to join the 200 home run, 200 stolen base club when he stole his 200th career base on August 31. On September 9, Trout underwent a
cryoablation procedure to address a
neuroma in his right foot. On September 15, it was announced that Trout would undergo full-fledged surgery to remove the neuroma, ending his 2019 season. He finished the season with a career-high 45 home runs and led the American League in on-base percentage and slugging percentage. On October 24, 2019, he won the AL
Hank Aaron Award. Trout was also named the AL MVP for his third time in his career. With his latest win, Trout joined teammate
Albert Pujols as the only active MLB players to have three MVP awards.
2020 On September 5, 2020, Trout hit his 300th career home run off of
Brandon Bielak of the
Houston Astros, breaking the Angels' all-time home run record held by
Tim Salmon. He finished the
pandemic-shortened season hitting .281/.390/.603 with 17 home runs (tied for 4th in the AL) and 46 RBIs (6th) in 53 games.
2021 For the season, Trout was hitting .333/.466/.624 with 8 home runs. On May 17, 2021, during a game against the
Cleveland Indians, he appeared to strain his right calf while jogging the bases. He was placed on the 10-day
injured list the following day and was expected to miss six to eight weeks. On June 28, Trout was transferred to the 60-day injured list. It was revealed in an interview with Trout in August that he had torn his calf muscle. On September 25, Trout confirmed that he would be shut down for the rest of the season.
2022 On March 13, 2022, Angels manager
Joe Maddon said that the team was considering moving Trout out of center field to prevent injuries. In the hypothetical move, Trout would go to a corner outfield spot while former top prospect
Brandon Marsh would patrol center field as he did during Trout's injured list stint in 2021. Trout said that he was surprised when he learned of the potential change via Twitter. After Trout talked with the team and stated that he preferred to play in center field, Maddon decided the following day that there would be no positional switch. 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 season batting .283/.369/.630 with 40 home runs and 80 RBIs in 119 games. On July 4, Trout was placed on the injured list, after fracturing his left hamate bone fouling off a pitch the previous day. He was activated from the injured list on August 22, returning to the lineup that night against the
Cincinnati Reds. However, he was placed back on the injured list the following day, due to lingering pain in his hand while batting. On September 24, it was announced that Trout would be shut down for the rest of 2023 season, and he was transferred to the 60-day injured list.
2024 On April 9, 2024, Trout hit a home run in a game against the
Tampa Bay Rays, becoming the fastest player in Angels franchise history to reach six home runs, doing so in eleven games. On April 30, Trout was diagnosed with a
torn meniscus, putting him on the injured list for an indefinite period of time. He underwent surgery to repair the meniscus on May 3. On July 23, Trout exited a minor league rehab game due to knee soreness. The following week, Trout announced that he had again torn the meniscus in his left knee and would be shut down for the rest of the 2024 season.
2025 During spring training before the 2025 season, Trout announced that he would play as a
right fielder in an effort to stay healthy. Trout left the April 30 game with a bone bruise in his left knee, going the next day on the 10-day injured list. His injury took longer than expected to heal, and he returned on May 30. On July 27, he hit a two-run homer off Seattle's
Logan Gilbert for his 1,000th career RBI. On September 20, Trout hit his 400th career home run off Rockies pitcher
Jaden Hill in the eighth inning. He became the 59th player to reach that milestone and the second active player to do so, joining
Giancarlo Stanton. He is also the 20th player to hit all 400 HRs with one franchise. He is the third player to reach the mark with the Angels, joining
Dave Winfield (Aug. 14, 1991 at Minnesota) and Vladimir Guerrero (Aug. 10, 2009 vs. Tampa Bay). On September 26, Trout hit two home runs against the Houston Astros in a 4-3 Angels victory. It was the 30th career multi-homer game for him as he set a franchise record for most multi-homer games in club history. ==International career==