Angels' Mike Trout is the Second Coming of Yankees' Mickey Mantle

Maren Angus-Coombs | Apr 12, 2024

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout has drawn many comparisons to Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle during his career.

The comparisons began in 2010, when Trout was an 18-year-old in Single-A, and Baseball America wrote that comparisons of the Angels prospect to Mantle “are actually pretty good.”

Mantle won his first Most Valuable Player award when he was 26. Trout won his second MVP when he was 26.

Flash forward to 2024, and their career hitting statistics are strikingly similar. Taylor Blake Ward of The Sporting Tribune broke it down in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The two players are side-by-side through their first 1,500 games and are almost identical.

Here is the full statistical comparison:

Name	Mike Trout	Mickey Mantle
Plate Appearances	6,567	6,386
At-Bats	5,443	5,353
Runs	1,114	1,204
Hits	1,636	1,651
Doubles	310	237
Triples	53	63
Home Runs	374	359
RBIs	948	1,027
Stolen Bases	208	119
Walks	968	1,084
Total Bases	2,704	2,745
Batting Average	.301	.308
On-Base	.412	.423
Slugging	.583	.577
OPS	.995	1.001

The biggest difference comes in the categories of RBIs, stolen bases and walks but the 2011-present Angels are not the New York Yankees of the 1950s and '60s.

Mantle won more than 88 percent of the Hall of Fame vote in his first year on the ballot. He retired at 36 and never had a below-average season. Trout, on the other hand, is 32 and has been named an All-Star in every season except 2020 and his debut year in 2011. Trout has also accumulated MVP votes in 10 of his 13 seasons.

The late, great Vin Scully said it best about Trout in 2016: “Great-looking ballplayer. Bigger than Mantle, sometimes bigger than life.”