Once the unquestioned face of baseball, Mike Trout’s steady slide in MLB Network’s rankings reflects age, injuries, and a career at a crossroads

As MLB Network is rolling out their top 100 players right now, Angels former superstar centerfielder Mike Trout has fallen to No. 81, the far and away lowest he’s ranked since his debut.

During most of the 2010’s and as recently as heading into the 2021 season, MLB Network ranked Trout as the No. 1 player in all of baseball. Even when Trout lost that spot to then-teammate DH/SP Shohei Ohtani heading into 2022, he was still No. 2.

Since then, though, Trout has continued to fall in the rankings, as he ranked No. 3 going into 2023, No. 12 going into 2024, No. 39 going into 2025 and now No. 81.

Despite Trout being the most healthy he’s been in years, as he played in 130 games in 2025, the most since 2019 and only the second time in the 2020s he’s played in at least 100 games, Trout had the worst year of his career.

In his 130 games, Trout slashed .232/.359/.439 with 26 home runs, 64 RBIs, a .797 OPS, 121 OPS+ and a 1.8 fWAR. Those are all career lows for Trout in a season where he had played at least 100 games. Another career worst for Trout was in K% as he struck out 32% of the time, which was in the second percentile.

These numbers are a far cry from what Trout used to put up, as from 2012-2019, Trout had won three MVPs, was MVP runner-up four times, and placed fourth once. During this span, he averaged 8.8 fWAR a season, 35 home runs, and 92 RBIs while slashing .308/.422/.587 with a 1.009 OPS and 178 OPS+.

Only one player in MLB history has at least 70 career WAR through their age 27 season…

Mike Trout

People forget how good he really waspic.twitter.com/O2XRS0e2ob

— Hagen Snell (@HagenSnellBB) January 12, 2026

There’s likely pessimism Trout will return to his all-star form due to the fact Trout is only getting older, as he be 34 on opening day, and his injury history over the past few seasons.

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Trout played in only 39 games in 2021 due to a calf strain, 119 games in 2022 due to a back injury, 83 games in 2023 due to a broken hamate, 29 games in 2024 due to a torn meniscus and 130 games in 2025 due to a bone bruise on his left knee. Trout announced he would move from center field to right field to help stay healthy, but he ended up as the team’s designated hitter for 106 games.

Only spots No. 100-41 have been announced yet, with spots No. 40-21 being announced Jan. 19. The only other Angel to make the list thus far is shortstop Zach Neto, six spots behind Trout at 87.