Where Does the Angels Captain Rank Among the 400 Club?
Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout etched his name deeper into baseball history with one swing in Denver, Colorado. Trout launched a 485-foot homer to left-center field, becoming the 59th player in MLB history to hit his 400th home run. All 400 homers have come with one team, spending his whole time with the Angels, and is the second active player in the MLB to eclipse the milestone, joining Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton, who currently sits at 450 homers. Trout now joins Hall of Famers Vladimir Guerrero and Dave Winfield as the third Angel to have hit their 400th with the Halos.
When compared to his company with Guerrero and Winfield, Trout, as of right now, stands out statistically with a higher career WAR compared to the two, Trout with 87.0 WAR, Winfield in second with 64.2 WAR, and Guerrero in third at 59.5 WAR. Trout also leads the former Angels with a .407 OBP, .569 SLUG, .975 OPS, and a 169 OPS+. From 2012 to 2016, Trout led all of baseball in WAR, winning Rookie of the Year in 2012, along with two MVP Awards in 2014 and 2016, and finishing as the MVP runner-up three other times. Guerrero never led the league in WAR, but won an MVP in 2004, and Winfield led the league in WAR, but never captured the award.
If comparing former Angels doesn’t pass the litmus test to really see how great Trout has been playing over his entire career to this point, look at his numbers against a few of the game’s legends. When compared to MLB’s top home run leaders, Trout’s consistency at the plate over his 14 years flirts with the best, beating out Albert Pujols and Henry Aaron in OBP, SLUG, OPS, and OPS+. Barry Bonds and Babe Ruth do have a lead over Trout’s metrics. However, it’s not too far out of reach for a player who still has a few more years of production left.
Catching history was behind Trout’s mind for a while, and the pressure of reaching 400 was there at every at-bat. Trout was stuck at number 398 on August 6th, and it was evident that getting to 400 was on his mind. Struggles at the plate over the last month were not the norm for Trout, even in an off year where the longtime Angels is hitting .229 in 2025. Number 399 came on September 11th against the Seattle Mariners, a blast to left that had flashbacks of Trout’s success against an AL West rival. Then last night, his homer in the bottom of the eighth inning cemented his name into history, and finally, some much-needed relief.
Now, as Mike Trout has reached one of MLB’s more elusive milestones, fans have been reminded of just how great a player Trout has always been. Even with injuries, even when facing slumps, Trout has found a way. Sure, the man from Millville, New Jersey, doesn’t play for a large market team with the Angels, but by looking at the numbers, it’s challenging to deny what Trout has done for the game of baseball. Trout, only 34 years old, still has time left to build on an already legendary career.
