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No one has had it worse than the Los Angeles Angels.
For years, the Angels have convinced themselves that they could make a run at the playoffs with the talent on their roster, only for that talent to get injured at the wrong time. It's cost them hundreds of millions of dollars in bad contracts and left them without a playoff win to speak of.
2024 will be the 10th straight season the Angels miss out on the postseason, as the Halos currently sit at 53-71 heading into the second half of August. And one of the biggest reasons for their struggles has been the absence of their best player.
For yet another year, the Angels have had to play most of the season without their most recognizable face, superstar center fielder Mike Trout. Trout's injuries have become an unfortunate pattern, and on Monday, that earned him a dubious distinction from an insider.
ESPN's Bradford Doolittle named Trout the most overrated player in MLB, using a system that weighed recognition in the form of awards voting against performance value on the field over a four-year sample.
"You aren't going to win many friends and influence many people by calling Mike Trout overrated. Really, he isn't, because he's still so good ... when he plays," Doolittle said. "No matter how great you are, you can't accumulate value for your team when you're not on the field."
It makes sense that Trout, 32, would land on Doolittle's list, because he started having injury problems three seasons ago.
Before 2021, Trout won three MVP awards while playing at least 114 games in every full-length season he played. But in the four years since, he's had at least one injury every season, while playing 36, 119, 82, and 29 games.
Because he's been so good when he played, Trout still was named an All-Star each season from 2021-2023, finishing eighth in MVP voting in 2022.
So while you won't find many baseball fans who consider Trout overrated, Doolittle's point holds true in this respect: Trout has given the Angels far less production on the field than they have needed from him. Hopefully, for the sake of the sport, that trend ends soon.
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