Injury-prone Angels superstar named 'most overrated' MLB player by Insider

No one has been hit worse than the Los Angeles Angels.

For years, the Angels believed they could make the playoffs with the talent on their roster, only to find that talent getting injured at the wrong time, costing them hundreds of millions of dollars in bad contracts and failing to win a playoff game to speak of.

2024 will be the tenth consecutive season that the Angels miss the postseason, as the Halos currently sit at 53-71 through the second half of August. And one of the main reasons for their struggles has been the absence of their best player.

For another year, the Angels have had to play most of the season without their most recognizable face, superstar centerfielder Mike Trout. Trout's injuries have become an unfortunate pattern, and on Monday, it earned him a dubious accolade from an insider.

ESPN's Bradford Doolittle called Trout the most overrated player in MLB, using a system that weighted recognition in the form of awards versus on-field performance over a four-year period.

“You're not going to win a lot of friends and influence a lot of people if you call Mike Trout overrated. He's really not, because he's still so good … when he plays,” Doolittle said. “No matter how good you are, you can't build value for your team if you're not on the field.”

It makes sense that the 32-year-old Trout lands on Doolittle's list, as he struggled with injury issues three seasons ago.

Before 2021, Trout won three MVP awards while playing at least 114 games in every full season he played. But in the four years since then, he has had at least one injury every season while playing 36, 119, 82 and 29 games.

Because he was so good during his playing days, Trout was named an All-Star in every season from 2021 to 2023 and finished eighth in the 2022 MVP voting.

While there aren't many baseball fans who think Trout is overrated, Doolittle's point is valid in that regard: Trout has given the Angels far less production on the field than they expected from him. Hopefully, for the sake of the sport, that trend will end soon.

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