No NBA games. No NFL games. No NHL games. What is there to talk about? How about Mike Trout. How great is Mike Trout? Andy McCullough spent some time asking a few All-Stars about that. Here’s what he turned up: “The best baseball players in the world gathered in Cleveland on Monday for All-Star game media day. The rosters feature participants from three different continents, an assembly of differing philosophies, ideologies and agendas. Among this disparate collection, finding a consensus can be difficult. “Except, of course, when it comes to determining the best player in the sport. “Trout, the 27-year-old, eight-time All-Star outfielder for the Angels, stands alone at the top…. “Trout, in the eyes of his fellow players, plays without a visible weakness. That raises a question, which The Times asked of the other All-Stars on Monday: What one skill of Trout’s do you most envy? The answers revealed both the depths of his peers’ admiration and the breadth of his skills. “I really have to choose one, out of everything he has?” asked Tampa Bay utility man Brandon Lowe. “I’d take his entire game, if I could,” Milwaukee infielder Mike Moustakas said. “All of it,” Astros outfielder Michael Brantley said. “How’s that answer? All of it. He’s a great player. Both sides of the ball, you name it — he can do it. I want all of it.” “The omnibus approach seems reasonable. Trout does not astound solely for his power, or for his speed, or for his eye at the plate. His greatness stems from the overlap of those skills and their constancy. “Trout appears unflappable as a hitter, the players said. Colorado outfielder David Dahl noted that Trout is never rattled by misfortune. “No matter what happens, it seems like you can’t take him out of his approach, whether it’s a bad call, or he has an at-bat where it doesn’t go well,” Dahl said. “He seems locked in, every at-bat.” Kansas City’s Whit Merrifield said “He just never seems to swing at a pitch out of the zone,” Merrifield said. “He’s never fooled.” “He can not know a pitch is coming, and I feel like he still takes a swing where I take a step back on defense, where I’m like ‘Oh, man, that is scary,’” Lowe said. “Dodgers infielder Max Muncy struck a similar chord. Say the pitcher throws a well-located slider, down and away from Trout, Muncy explained. Trout can still clobber it. “No matter what kind of swing he takes, it’s like it’s coming off a trampoline,” Muncy said.” --- OK, back to your host here. How great is Trout? Let’s take a look at just one aspect of his game, hitting. Using OPS+ as our guide, where does Trout rank all time among players with at least 3,000 plate appearances? (OPS+ compares a players offense to the average offensive player in that player’s time frame. An OPS+ of 100 means you are a league average hitter. OPS+ of 110 means you are 10% better than league average. An OPS+ of 90 means you are 10% worse, etc.)
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