Mike Trout has been one of the best hitters of his generation, if not one of the best in baseball annals. Now 35 years old and in his 16th major league season — all with the Los Angeles Angels — the pride of Millville, New Jersey has left the yard 424 times while logging a 163 wRC+ over 7,765 plate appearances. A 12-time All-Star and three-time MVP, he has been awarded nine Silver Sluggers.
When Trout arrives in Cooperstown — already with 90.2 WAR, enshrinement is basically a fait accompli — he will do so as a slugger who embraced a relatively straightforward approach. Much like his longtime contemporary Bryce Harper, who was featured in our Talks Hitting series back in May, Trout is steadfastly old school in the batter’s box. It’s hard to argue with the results. While no longer in his prime — not even legends can defeat Father Time — he is undeniably an all-time great.
Trout sat down to talk hitting prior to Tuesday’s game at Fenway Park.
———
David Laurila: How much have you changed as a hitter since signing your first professional contract?
Mike Trout: “I’m pretty much the same guy. I try to keep it that way. If you look at when I was younger — high school to early in pro ball — it’s pretty much the same now. I mean, there have been tweaks here and there. It might look a little different, but I feel like I’m the same hitter.”
Laurila: Can you elaborate on “might look a little different?”
Trout: “Subtle differences in my setup. The main thing is my contact points, and you probably wouldn’t see much difference there, but the setup is what gets you to that spot. That’s what I’m working on during the times I’m trying to figure stuff out.”
Job Title: Intern, Data Science Department: Baseball Operations Reports To: Manager, Data Science Status: Hourly, non-exempt
Timeline: Preference will be given to candidates who can start by January 1, 2027 or sooner, and work through mid-October 2027.
Primary Objective: Responsible for supporting all areas of baseball operations through baseball-related data science, including statistical modeling, research, visualizations, and other projects.
Essential Functions:
Statistical modeling and analysis of a variety of data sources including Trackman, Hawkeye, and proprietary data sets.
Ad hoc queries and quantitative research.
Will perform other duties as assigned.
Education and Experience:
Bachelor’s degree preferred. Public research and work experience may be considered in lieu of education requirements if approved by management.
A strong foundation in mathematics, statistics, computer science, and/or engineering required.
Proficiency in programming with either R, Python, or Julia required.
Proficiency with SQL preferred.
Track record of original baseball research or other sports research preferred.
Experience building and interpreting predictive models preferred.
Experience working with AI programming tools, such as Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, or Copilot welcomed.
Compensation Rate/Range:
The Mariners are committed to providing competitive pay, perks and benefits packages for our valued Team Members. This information is being provided in accordance with the Washington State Equal Pay and Opportunity Act.
The anticipated pay for this seasonal role is $23 per hour. The Mariners also provide a robust and unique offering of perks and benefits including paid public transportation, merchandise discounts, special access to baseball games and other public events, and a number of exclusive employee incentives. All perks are subject to eligibility requirements and availability and may be modified or amended from time to time.
Department: Baseball Operations Reports To: Manager, Baseball Operations Status: Nonexempt
Timeline: Preference will be given to candidates who can start by March 1, 2027 and work through mid-October 2027.
Primary Objective: Responsible for coordination, support, and assistance to the Baseball Operations department in research, administration, and day-to-day scouting operation tasks.
Essential Functions:
Support all areas of the Pro and Amateur Scouting departments, including administration, player evaluation, research, video clipping, and preparation for the Amateur Draft meetings.
Provide support in Advance Scouting, including preparation of the Major League Advance Scouting report.
Provide additional statistical analysis, economic, and financial research as assigned.
Perform other duties as assigned.
Education and Experience:
Bachelor’s degree preferred. Equivalent relevant work or playing experience may be considered in lieu of formal education if approved by management.
Basic Spanish proficiency is preferred.
Background in player evaluation is preferred.
Background in video preparation is preferred.
Compensation Rate/Range:
The Mariners are committed to providing competitive pay, perks, and benefits packages for our valued Team Members. This information is being provided in accordance with the Washington State Equal Pay and Opportunity Act.
The anticipated pay for this seasonal role is $23 per hour. The Mariners also provide a robust and unique offering of perks and benefits including paid public transportation, merchandise discounts, special access to baseball games and other public events, and a number of exclusive employee incentives. All perks are subject to eligibility requirements and availability and may be modified or amended from time to time.
Going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts is not typically a line in a boxscore that is hailed as a grand success for the batter or the team. In this case, however, it represented Aaron Judge’s return to the Yankees’ lineup, the first time he appeared in a game in more than three months. With the Tampa Bay Rays proving to be stubbornly intransigent about complying with the whole regression toward the mean thing, getting Judge back is incredibly important for the Yankees as they try to challenge for the AL East crown.
Up until the team announced on Monday that it was activating Judge, it was difficult to pinpoint an exact timeline for when he might return from the rib injury that plopped him onto the IL in early June. After an initial hope that he’d only miss a few days, that expected recovery window was extended to maybe August, and then to an emoji shrug followed up by a crossed-fingers emoji. While the Yankees have been used to this over the years with Giancarlo Stanton, whose return from his litany of injuries is always imminent, like Krusty the Clown’s supposed arrival at Kamp Krusty to save the children, it was different to go through it with Judge. And yes, I’m an aging Xennial so of course there’s a Simpsons reference.
With Judge out, the Yankees have combined for a wRC+ of 90, second worst in baseball, ahead of only the Los Angeles Angels. New York’s ranking of 26th in runs scored does not paint a sunnier overall picture. It’s only thanks to superb pitching that the Yankees have stayed afloat. The Judge-less Yankees were the disaster scenario I specifically outlined in the preseason projections, so their putrid performance at the plate without him was not a surprise. But because they continued to win in his absence, it would take an extremely unlikely collapse of epic proportions to push them out of a playoff spot.
However, just making the playoffs was never the goal. As always, New York’s ambition is to win the World Series, and securing a first-round bye would put the club in a much better position to do that. That means the Yankees need to run down the Rays, because even if they finish with the second-best record in the AL, if they don’t win the AL East, the best they’ll get is home-field advantage in the Wild Card round. Bringing him back now, without sending him on a rehab assignment or giving him more live-BP reps before activating him, is an indication of how important the Yankees consider their captain to be. They believe that having even a rusty version of Judge in their lineup gives them their best shot to win the division.
As noted at the top, Judge’s performance itself did not look like a triumphal return to the lineup. The Yankees beat the Rockies, as you’re supposed to do most of the time, but Judge got rung up on strikeouts on fastballs from Gabriel Hughes and Mark Manfredi, one of them swinging, and his only ball in play was a fairly routine fly out to Cole Carrigg. Judge was also not particularly happy about being pulled for Heliot Ramos after the sixth inning. (Ramos hit a three-run homer later that proved to be decisive.)
Meh game aside, let’s crunch some numbers on the divisional race, both with and without Judge.
ZiPS Median Projected AL East Standings – 9/9/26
Team
W
L
GB
Pct
Div%
WC%
Playoff%
WS Win%
Tampa Bay Rays
94
68
—
.580
79.1%
20.9%
100.0%
6.7%
New York Yankees
91
71
3
.562
18.6%
81.4%
100.0%
8.5%
Boston Red Sox
89
73
5
.549
2.2%
97.7%
100.0%
7.6%
Toronto Blue Jays
82
80
12
.506
0.0%
50.5%
50.5%
3.2%
Baltimore Orioles
79
83
15
.488
0.0%
5.6%
5.6%
0.2%
Source: Me, the ZiPS Guy
Having a nearly one-in-five projected chance at winning the division is actually quite a positive prognosis for the Yankees. After all, remember, the four-game lead the Rays have over the Yankees is, for all intents and purposes, a five-game lead. Since Major League Baseball is frequently a thief of joy, we no longer have tiebreaking Game 163s. The Yankees need to sweep the Rays in their four-game series at home during the final week of the season to get the tiebreaker.
But the Yankees have other advantages. ZiPS at least believes that the Yankees are the strongest team in the AL with Judge back in the lineup, and the computer has always been lukewarm on the Rays. There are also scheduling advantages, in that ZiPS has the Yanks with a significantly easier remaining schedule than Tampa, with games against the Rockies, Mets, Twins, and Orioles still to come.
Just having Judge in the lineup is, of course, the biggest impact of his return, but there are downstream effects as well. Spencer Jones has hit as well as ZiPS — the most positive projection system on him in March — expected, and he ought to remain a part of the lineup even with Judge back. A Judge-Jones-Cody Bellinger starting lineup with Ben Rice ar DH leaves Ramos and Jasson Domínguez as quite solid role players the team can mix-and-match depending on the game.
Now, let’s cruelly re-injure Judge. Theoretically, of course, for science; do not, I repeat, do not follow Judge around after games driving a cartoon steamroller.
ZiPS Median Projected AL East Standings – 9/9/26 (No Judge)
Team
W
L
GB
Pct
Div%
WC%
Playoff%
WS Win%
Tampa Bay Rays
94
68
—
.580
87.5%
14.5%
100.0%
7.7%
New York Yankees
91
71
3
.562
10.2%
87.9%
100.0%
5.2%
Boston Red Sox
89
73
5
.549
2.3%
97.6%
100.0%
8.0%
Toronto Blue Jays
82
80
12
.506
0.0%
50.3%
50.3%
3.4%
Baltimore Orioles
79
83
15
.488
0.0%
6.2%
6.2%
0.3%
Source: Me, the ZiPS Guy
You’ll notice it doesn’t move the projected standings by a full win — the Yankees are at least better equipped to handle a Judge absence now, for the remainder of the regular season, than they were a few months ago — but there are significant changes in the standings. Because of those upside scenarios, losing Judge knocks a good 40% off their shot at their last chance comeback against the Rays and slices a similar chunk off their World Series championship odds.
Monday night’s game featured an unremarkable game from a remarkable player, in a win the Yankees were supposed to snatch up anyway. But since it was Judge’s return, it may have been one of the most productive hitless games you’ll ever see. New York doesn’t need to see its franchise icon immediately resume vaporizing baseballs to make the postseason, but it certainly would be convenient. The Rays have spent a whole year rejecting ZiPS’ suggestions that they stop being quite so good, and the calendar is rapidly running out of opportunities for the Yankees to punish Tampa Bay’s obstinacy. With Aaron Judge back in the lineup and four games left to play against the Rays, the Yankees have just enough mathematical daylight to cause trouble.
David Richard, Nathan Ray Seebeck, David Richard and Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
With the passing of Labor Day, the 2026 regular season has less than three weeks remaining. While neither league’s playoff races are as turbulent as the AL Wild Card race appeared to be just a couple of weeks ago — to say nothing of the Before Times, when Major League Baseball used actual tiebreaker games instead of math to settle ties, and rooting for end-of-season chaos was a whole lot more fun — it’s time for a check-in to outline what’s at stake.
Right now, in four of the six division races — all but the NL Central and NL West, where the Brewers and Dodgers both have comfortable margins — the first-place team leads by four games or less. That said, the hill that the Phillies (81-64) have to climb to catch the Braves (85-60) is steeper than it appears, because Atlanta clinched the season series with a 5-4 win this past Sunday and owns a 7-3 advantage, with the two teams set to play their final three games starting on Friday at Truist Park. Thus, if the two teams finish the regular season tied, the Braves would be the division winner and the Phillies a Wild Card team. Philadelphia has to overtake Atlanta to claim the NL East flag, something our Playoff Odds suggest has just an 8.2% chance of happening. Read the rest of this entry »
As special and precious as Shohei Ohtani is, it makes sense that he’s delicate. Both the Dodgers and the Angels before them have handled Ohtani with padded tongs: six-man rotations, pitch counts, a full-time DH role. Ohtani has played just 8 1/3 career innings in the outfield, even though he clearly has the legs and arms to play center.
It hasn’t mattered. For spurts lasting a season or two at most, Ohtani has held up, but he’s needed two UCL surgeries in an American pro career of nine seasons and only 644 1/3 innings on the mound, including the playoffs and the World Baseball Classic. Nolan Ryan has an innings-to-ligaments ratio more than 25 times Ohtani’s. It’s not great. Read the rest of this entry »
Every September, there are three different versions of baseball being played in the majors. For a number of teams, the year is all but over, and the last month is about hitting some personal milestones, playing spoiler, and working on next year. For another group – seemingly half of the American League this year – September is about fighting for a spot in the playoffs. And then there’s a final group, teams that are already headed to the postseason. For them, the last month of the season is about jockeying for seeding and hoping like crazy that none of their pitchers gets hurt.
With 100.0% odds to make the playoffs, the Rays fall into that final group this year. Sure, the AL East race isn’t over, but we give them an 80% chance of winning the division, and that title would come with a first-round bye. That “jockeying for seeding” part is going very well so far, in other words. But hoping for pitcher health? That ship has unfortunately already sailed. On September 4, the team placed co-ace Shane McClanahan on the 15-day IL with forearm tightness. A day later, middle reliever Garrett Cleavinger hit the same IL with the same injury.
The Rays have felt approximately one starter short for the majority of the 2026 season. Though they’ve put up excellent numbers as a group, the composition of that group has varied massively. Nick Martinez has provided enviable bulk. Drew Rasmussen is in the middle of the best season of his already very good career; he’s set a career high in innings pitched, and he’s on course to flirt with a top-three Cy Young finish. McClanahan, on the other hand, had been atop the starting hierarchy in Tampa Bay for years, health permitting — a caveat that is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.
After missing the entirety of the 2024 and 2025 seasons, McClanahan returned with no ill effects and was one of the best pitchers in the AL during the first half of this season. He hit the IL on July 31 with lower back tightness, but truthfully, the team probably wasn’t terribly broken up about it. His workload was already in question given the aforementioned two years of injury recovery, and a back injury notably isn’t an arm ailment. McClanahan returned only days after the minimum stint and made four starts on a normal schedule. Read the rest of this entry »
Jonathan Dyer, Eric Canha and Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images
The long weekend was a particularly rough one for center fielders in the AL East. On Saturday, the Yankees’ Trent Grisham landed on the injured list with a Grade 2 strain of his right hamstring, and then on Sunday, both Luis Robert Jr. of the Orioles and Ceddanne Rafaela of the Red Sox joined him on the sidelines, the former due to a low-grade left hamstring strain and the latter because of a right quad strain. Their absences could have some impact as the teams jockey for position in the AL Wild Card race, where Baltimore’s chances have taken a major hit due to a recent six-game losing streak.
The most serious injury is that of the 29-year-old Grisham, who left Friday’s game against the Padres at Petco Park in the middle of the third inning. Reportedly, he initially felt tightness in his hamstring while being thrown out trying to steal second base in the top of the second, after drawing a leadoff walk against Padres starter Walker Buehler. In the bottom of the frame, he got a very late jump on a bloop by Xander Bogaerts that landed for a two-out RBI single, the game’s first run. After the inning, the YES Network broadcast showed Grisham in the dugout talking to Michael Schuk, the team’s director of sports medicine and rehabilitation, who then followed him into the clubhouse.
Right fielder Spencer Jones shifted over to center to replace Grisham, with Heliot Ramos entering the game in right. Both wound up figuring in the Yankees’ 3-2 defeat, when Jones led off the top of the 10th inning with an RBI single but was thrown out trying to steal third base as Ramos swung through an 88-mph slider from Mason Miller for strike three. The Yankees ended up losing when Luis Campusano hit a walk-off two-run homer off Paul Blackburn in the bottom of the 10th. Read the rest of this entry »
Sal Stewart is a frontrunner for NL Rookie of the Year honors. A formidable presence in the middle of the Cincinnati Reds lineup, the 22-year-old corner infielder has bashed 31 home runs and put up a 121 wRC+. Moreover, he leads all MLB hitters with 106 RBIs. Per the team’s press notes, Ted Williams (144 in 1939) and Walt Dropo are the only rookies to lead the majors in RBIs since 1920.
Stewart’s ability to square up baseballs far exceeds his wordiness when discussing the art and science of hitting — at least that was the case when I talked to him prior to a recent game at Wrigley Field. Entertainingly demonstrative when interacting with teammates in the clubhouse prior to our conversation, he was far from expansive when responding to questions about his craft.
“I’m kind of always tinkering and trying to find what’s best,” Stewart replied when asked how he’s grown as a hitter since entering pro ball in 2022 out of a Miami high school. “But for the most part, I have the same swing I’ve had since I was 12 years old.”
The burgeoning star told me that he still has the same offseason hitting coaches who helped him hone his right-handed stroke in travel ball. As he explained, “I trust my people and stick with my people.” Ditto training methods. He doesn’t hit off of a Trajekt, preferring instead to follow his established routine of “doing some tee stuff, some flips. Drills that I know work for me, and prepare me for the game.”
Earlier this week, the Los Angeles Angels unexpectedly announced that longtime owner Arte Moreno had agreed to sell the organization to Stan Kroenke, the icositetra-billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Rams of the NFL, the Denver Nuggets of the NBA, the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL, the Colorado Rapids of MLS, the Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League, and Arsenal Football Club, both the men’s team of the English Premier League and the women’s team of the Super League. The deal is reportedly for $4 billion, a record price for the sale of a controlling stake in an MLB franchise, surpassing the $3.9 billion sale of the San Diego Padres to Kwanza Jones and José E. Feliciano earlier this summer.
Forbes estimates Kroenke’s net worth to be $24.3 billion, making him the new wealthiest MLB owner, ahead of Steve Cohen, who’s worth about $23 billion. Ben Clemens wrote about the sale on Wednesday, and I’d encourage you to check it out for everything that you need to know about the Angels under Moreno and the ever-increasing values of MLB franchises. That second part is what I want to stress, especially as it pertains to the seemingly inevitable lockout coming this offseason. Rob Manfred and the 30 team owners are going to push for a salary cap, and to support their case, many of them will both cite the need for competitive balance and claim that baseball is a bad business. When they do, think back on the two record-setting sales from this year and understand the real reason why management has shut down the sport. But let’s not get too caught up in the doom and gloom right now, because the upshot of the sale is the Angels’ future looks a whole lot more promising under Kroenke than it did under Moreno.
That’s the last we’ll talk about the business of baseball today. Instead, in this week’s mailbag, we’ll answer your questions about teams that finished the season below .500 with a positive run differential, the single-game feat most correlated with career success, the pitchers who had the longest careers while pitching their first and last games on the same field, and the ideal hot dog per game ratio. But first, I’d like to remind you that this mailbag is exclusive to FanGraphs Members. If you aren’t yet a Member and would like to keep reading, you can sign up for a Membership here. It’s the best way to both experience the site and support our staff, and it comes with a bunch of other great benefits. Also, if you’d like to ask a question for an upcoming mailbag, send me an email at mailbag@fangraphs.com. Read the rest of this entry »
JOB SUMMARY: The Texas Rangers are seeking candidates for an Apprenticeship in Baseball Analytics based in Arlington, TX.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS OF POSITION INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO THE FOLLOWING:
Query and report on data
Build and maintain analytical tools, metrics, & models
Create compelling data visualizations and stories
Research game changing ideas and concepts
Present information to team leaders and organizational stakeholders
All other duties as assigned.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
Bachelor’s Degree in mathematics, engineering, computer science, data science, or related field
Strong knowledge of baseball analytics and associated data & technologies
Proficiency in Python, SQL, R, Shiny and/or other analytical tools
Familiarity with concepts such as predictive modelling, cloud computing, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and Bayesian analysis
Strong written & verbal communication as well as visualization skills
A creative mindset, open-mindedness, and desire to work in a learning culture
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this job. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of the job.
If you like wild growth and working with happy, enthusiastic over-achievers, you’ll enjoy your career with us!
