Mike Trout is the center fielder for the Los Angeles Angels.
His first full season was 2012, the same year Effectively Wild began. Trout is one of the most frequently discussed players on the show. Common topics include his extraordinarily high level of play, comparisons to Bryce Harper, and hypothetical situations. Episode 797 was dedicated to how one could explain Trout's greatness to non-fans.
Other recurring topics include his personality quirks, such as his fascination with weather and his unusual punctuation on Twitter (both in Episode 655), which consists of a space added before sentence-ending punctuation.
The $100/month Patreon support tier is named after him.
The hosts consider in-season statistics to be valid once Mike Trout reaches the top of the WAR leaderboard. (Episode 1360.)
The Stat Blast in Episode 1912 Analyzes Mike Trout's airplane emoji and exclamation points in his tweets.
Hypotheticals[]
Effectively Wild listeners will often submit unusual Trout-based scenarios (with the hosts usually being asked to determine how good he would still be if forced to play with a given handicap). Examples include:
- Episode 364: What if Mike Trout had to switch-hit? (Related topic in Episode 999, and a follow-up in Episode 1002 regarding discovered video of Trout switch-hitting during high school batting practice.)
- Episode 369: What if Mike Trout offered to take a below-market extension only if he was guaranteed the GM job in 15 years?
- Episode 381: What if Mike Trout signed a 20-year, half-billion-dollar deal, then just phoned it on the field and didn't care what anyone thought about him?
- Episode 416: What if you could clone Mike Trout? How many would you get at his current contract? What if the price went up?
- Episode 419: What if Mike Trout became a consistent −1 WAR player?
- Episode 434: What if Mike Trout had gone to college? He would be graduating this year.
- Episode 493: What if you could double-team Mike Trout, whatever that means?
- Episode 528: What if Mike Trout's talent were given to a 26-year-old former high school baseball player?
- Episode 726: What if Mike Trout had fewer fingers?
- Episode 830: What if Mike Trout had been stuck in AAA all this time and just got called up?
- Episode 840: What if Mike Trout had been drafted by each of the 21 teams who passed on him?
- Episode 886: How little would the Angels be willing to accept to salary dump Mike Trout if he were bundled with Albert Pujols? (See also similar question in future Episode 1103.)
- Episode 891: What if Mike Trout started going 0–4 for every game?
- Episode 910: What if Mike Trout had an identical twin who had no baseball experience?
- Episode 962: What if Mike Trout is acquired by Colorado, so Coors Field becomes his home park?
- Episode 975: What if Mike Trout insisted on pitching the final inning of any World Series clinching game?
- Episode 959: What if Mike Trout had to leap over a hurdle between every base?
- Episode 988: If every player looked like Mike Trout, how long would it take to identify the real Mike Trout?
- Episode 999: What if Mike Trout were required to bat left-handed? (With follow-up in Episode 1000.)
- Episode 1008: How much of a weight burden handicap would Mike Trout need for Ben/Jeff to beat him in a footrace?
- Episode 1008: What if Mike Trout gained 65 pounds during the off-season?
- Episode 1023: What if Mike Trout had to do everything running backwards?
- Episode 1026: What would Mike Trout's walk rate be if he were traded to an NL team that batted him eighth?
- Episode 1029: What if Mike Trout were issued intentional walks through all of spring training?
- Episode 1032: What if Mike Trout suddenly had the baseball skill of Ben or Jeff?
- Episode 1044: What if it always rained when Mike Trout played? What if it rained specifically on Mike Trout?
- Episode 1053: Where would Mike Trout play if the batting order were required to match defensive position numbers?
- Episode 1056: What if Mike Trout were allowed only one swing per plate appearance?
- Episode 1103: How much would Mike Trout be worth if he were bundled with Albert Pujols?
- Episode 1143: What if Mike Trout had to bat in the order in a spot that matched the number of his defensive position?
- Episode 1146: How much would a 2027 Mike Trout futures contract be worth today (2017)?
- Episode 1167: What if Mike Trout tried to turn every hit into a triple?
- Episode 1167: What if Mike Trout had to wear noise-cancelling headphones?
- Episode 1167: What if Mike Trout were permitted to hit the ball into only half of the field?
- Episode 1187: What if Mike Trout could not fly on an airplane? (Follow-up in Episode 1584.)
- Episode 1187: What if rookie Mike Trout's body had final-season Mike Trout's experience?
- Episode 1199: What if Mike Trout insisted on pitching a certain number of innings per year?
- Episode 1217: What if Mike Trout TOOTBLAN'ed every time he reached base? (See also Vroom Vroom Guy.)
- Episode 1228: What if Mike Trout had no situation awareness?
- Episode 1233: If you could trade draft picks, how many years of first-round picks would Mike Trout be worth?
- Episode 1237: What if Mike Trout stopped playing at 9pm in order to get to bed by 10pm?
- Episode 1240: What if Mike Trout were exclusively a DH?
- Episode 1246: How much more would teams pay if Mike Trout agreed to be do marketing stunts?
- Episode 1251: What is Mike Trout's ideal height, ignoring biological limitations?
- Episode 1254: What if Mike Trout couldn't judge the location of the strike zone?
- Episode 1258: What if Mike Trout couldn't slide?
- Episode 1295: Would Mike Trout be better than Willians Astudillo if various Astudillo-favoring rules were enacted?
- Episode 1295: What would Mike Trout's contact rate be if that was all he cared about?
- Episode 1465: How good would Mike Trout be if baseball were the world's only sport?
- Episode 1565: What if Mike Trout had to bat with a broken bat?
- Episode 1565: Could Mike Trout enter the Hall of Fame twice by faking his death and assuming a new identity for the remainder of his career?
- Episode 1649: How could Mike Trout accumulate the most negative WAR without being benched?
- Episode 1762: How many guesses would space aliens need to guess which year of Mike Trout's career was during a pandemic, given only his annual statistics?
- Episode 1991: If Mike Trout made an ultimatum "Either Shohei Ohtani goes or I go", who would you keep?
- Episode 2037: What if the Angels secretly traded Mike Trout at the deadline to a playoff team, but announced that they had traded Hunter Renfroe, and everyone had to keep up the deception?
In Episode 1807, Ben and Meg list some of the listener-submitted Mike Trout hypotheticals, and Meg adds some she considered in a story for Baseball Prospectus.