Trout enters age-24 season on Griffey-like road to Cooperstown

Jesse Spector

Trout enters age-24 season on Griffey-like road to Cooperstown image

This week was full of celebration of Ken Griffey Jr.’s career as the 13-time All-Star came closer to unanimous election to the Hall of Fame than anyone ever has.

The full celebration is fully deserved. Griffey was a special talent, and everyone who got to watch him play was lucky to do so. He was a generational player.

MORE: Classic images of The Kid | 10 times Griffey impacted pop culture | Junior's uni collection

Those words also have been used to describe Mike Trout, and as we move on from Hall of Fame election week to start focusing on the future, it’s a good time for a reminder of what that means.

Take a look at Griffey and Trout, compared through their age-23 seasons. Age for a season is taken on June 30, so while Trout turned 24 in August, 2015 was his age-23 campaign. Griffey’s was 1993, when he hit .309/.408/.617 with 45 home runs.

All stats through age-23 seasons are from baseball-reference.com, because of course they are. All-time rankings are in parentheses.

GAMES PLAYED

Griffey: 734 (Seventh)
Trout: 652 (18th)
All-time leader: Robin Yount, 845

Keep in mind that Griffey had an extra half-season of action.

WINS ABOVE REPLACEMENT

Trout: 37.9 (First)
Griffey: 30.1 (Fifth)

HOME RUNS

Griffey: 132 (Sixth)
Trout: 139 (Fourth)
All-time leader: Eddie Mathews, 153

RUNS BATTED IN

Griffey: 453 (Sixth)
Trout: 397 (14th)
All-time leader: Mel Ott, 608

BATTING AVERAGE (minimum 2000 PA)

Griffey: .303 (24th)
Trout: .304 (22nd)
All-time leader: Ted Williams, .356

ON-BASE PERCENTAGE

Griffey: .375 (17th)
Trout: .397 (Seventh)
All-time leader: Ted Williams, .481

SLUGGING PERCENTAGE

Griffey: .520 (17th)
Trout: .559 (Eighth)
All-time leader: Ted Williams, .642

OPS

Griffey: .895 (16th)
Trout: .956 (Seventh)
All-time leader: Ted Williams, 1.123

OPS+

Griffey: 146 (11th)
Trout: 169 (Third)
All-time leader: Ted Williams, 190

HITS

Griffey: 832 (Seventh)
Trout: 744 (14th)
All-time leader: Ty Cobb, 959

WALKS

Griffey: 318 (Ninth)
Trout: 361 (Sixth)
All-time leader: Ted Williams, 495

DOUBLES

Griffey: 170 (First)
Trout: 143 (11th)

RUNS

Griffey: 424 (12th)
Trout: 477 (Sixth)
All-time leader: Mel Ott, 582

TOTAL BASES

Griffey: 1428 (Second)
Trout: 1368 (Fifth)
All-time leader: Mel Ott, 1,573

STOLEN BASES

Griffey: 77 (51st)
Trout: 113 (18th)
All-time leader: Rickey Henderson, 319

MORE: Griffey's story goes beyond baseball | Junior says no to the backward-cap plaque

Trout has led the American League in runs scored three times, OPS+ twice and RBI, steals, walks and total bases once each, with one MVP and three second-place finishes. Through his age-23 season, Griffey had led the league in total bases once, and fifth place was his highest finish in the MVP vote.

Griffey’s age-24 season was 1994, and he hit .323/.402/.674 with a league-leading 40 homers in the strike-shortened year, finishing second in the MVP vote. His one MVP award came the second time he led the league in homers, with 56 in 1997, an age-27 season that also included Griffey leading the league in runs, runs batted in, total bases and slugging percentage.

If Trout can stay on the same track, he’ll wind up alongside Griffey in Cooperstown — and we’ll all have a lot of fun watching one of the greats of the game.

Jesse Spector