Angels News: Mike Trout Says He’s Getting Frustrated With Losing
Angels superstar Mike Trout is about as loyal as they come. In his 12-year career, which already has him as No. 60 on the MLB's all-time WAR leaderboard, he's made the postseason just once. That trip came in 2014, when the Angels played three games and lost all of them.
Then, in 2014, the team got close, finishing with a winning record. But they missed out on the postseason and, ever since, have been a losing team.
The year is now 2023. Trout is entering year five of his 12-year, $426.5 million contract. He's made it clear that his main goal is making the postseason. But he also told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic that he's growing a little frustrated with his season ending early one year after another.
"You’ve got to win. You get frustrated when you lose," Trout said. "It’s getting to a point where we’ve got to win. That’s where the organization is. The fans, they want to (see) some winning baseball to Anaheim."
It's easy to understand where he's coming from. Trout is on pace to undoubtedly go down as one of baseball's greatest players. However, all the best players had success both in the regular season and the postseason.
In Trout's lone postseason appearance, he went 1-12 (.083) with one home run, one RBI, three walks and two strikeouts. When his top-seeded Angels were swept by the Kansas City Royals, he probably assumed he'd get another chance to amend those numbers. But eight years later, he still hasn't had that opportunity.
Trout told Rosenthal that he looks up to another player who remained with one team his entire career. It's a big reason he's been so loyal to the Halos.
"My role model growing up was Derek Jeter," Trout said. "That was in the back of my mind (signing the contract), the way he stayed in one city."
Jeter, however, was on a team that knew how to win. In Jeter's 20-year career, the New York Yankees made the postseason 17 times. They won five World Series, and Jeter played a big role in all of them. He even received the nickname "Mr. November" for the way he came through on the biggest stage.
Trout is yet to get that opportunity. Everyone in the world knows he has the talent to be the best player on a World Series team, but unfortunately, it just hasn't happened for him yet.
Rosenthal's report does not mean Trout is going to want out anytime soon. However, if the Angels endure another losing season, and Trout's superstar teammate Shohei Ohtani leaves in free agency, it's going to be a lot harder to sell Trout on the future of this team. Let's hope the Angels start to figure things out in 2023.
