Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout is drawing comparisons to some of baseball’s biggest legends again.
After hitting five home runs in a four-game series against the New York Yankees, Angels hitting coach Brady Anderson recently doubled down on Trout’s place next to history.
“When you look up the all-time OPS leaders, you’re quickly reminded,” Anderson said Thursday, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. “As you go down the top 20 you get to Mantle, then DiMaggio, then Trout. His name is right in the middle of the game’s all-time legends, and rightfully so.”
Trout hit five home runs in a four-game series at Yankee Stadium, including a 446-foot blast in the finale. He became the first visiting player to homer in four consecutive games at the current Yankee Stadium and joined a short list of players to hit five home runs in a single series against the Yankees.
Angels Are Seeing Vintage Trout Again
The numbers behind the surge are amazing, and yet not totally out of the blue.
Through the early part of the season, Trout’s OPS has climbed back above 1.000. He has also cut his strikeout rate significantly compared to last season, while improving contact and in-zone contact rates.
Trout said the difference comes down to routine and preparation.
“It’s pretty close,” Trout said when asked if this is the best he has felt in years. “I felt good at the end of last year. But I’m just seeing the ball and staying with a routine and having a good game plan up there.”
Health remains the biggest variable for Trout and the Angels.
From 2021 through 2025, injuries limited Trout to fewer total games than he missed. That stretch created uncertainty about how much production he had left. The early signs this season suggest the physical side is stabilizing again.
He has returned to center field regularly and is moving well defensively, another sign that his body is cooperating.
Legacy Conversation Returning
For several years, the focus centered on availability rather than production. When he was healthy, the performance remained strong, but the missed time made it harder to sustain momentum.
Opposing players have taken notice as well. Yankees slugger Aaron Judge referred to Trout as the “greatest of all time” earlier this week. What fans are currently witnessing is the version of Trout that looks bizarrely familiar to anyone who watched him during his peak years.
It is still early in the season, and the same condition applies as always: Trout needs to stay healthy.
But the early performance has changed the tone around him. Instead of asking whether he can still produce at an elite level, the conversation is shifting back to how long he can maintain it.
“Honestly, not surprising,” Los Angeles manager Kurt Suzuki said in response to Trout becoming the first to hit five homers in a series in the Bronx (ESPN). “When you’re with Mike every day, there’s nothing that you believe that he can’t do.”
For now, Trout is doing what he has done many times throughout his career — producing at the highest level that baseball has ever seen.
Angels’ Mike Trout Reminding MLB Where He Ranks Among All-Time Greats