In an interesting touch of irony, the darling of the sabermetrics community doesn’t exactly think all that highly of sabermetrics.
In an appearance Tuesday on MLB Network Radio, Los Angeles Angels star outfielder Mike Trout revealed that he doesn’t look at advanced stats and gave his reasoning why.
“I don’t use any of that,” said the two-time American League MVP. “If I think launch angle or look at anything like that, I’ll get all messed up.”
The funny thing is that advanced stats love Trout, who regularly ranks atop the league in wins above replacement (WAR), weighted runs created+ (wRC+), win probability added (WPA), and other value-based metrics. But what you have to consider is that he is in the middle of a sixth consecutive transcendent season at age 25. Trout is slashing an unreal .342/.465/.741 with 15 home runs and 35 RBIs through just 42 games in 2017 and is getting a Bonds-level of respect from opposing managers. Given that kind of ridiculous year-to-year production, why try to fix it if it isn’t broken?
