Mookie Betts, Mike Trout and how we determine a generation's best player

Mookie Betts, Mike Trout and how we determine a generation's best player

Betts is climbing the all-time WAR list the same way Trout once was. We examine the two and dive into which players similarly ruled previous eras.

Best player of their generation: Mike Trout and Mookie Betts - khbrksport

David SchoenfieldMay 23, 2025, 07:00 AM ET Close Covers MLB for ESPN.com Former deputy editor of Page 2 Been with ESPN.com since 1995 For almost a decade, Mike Trout was the unquestioned best player in baseball. From 2012 to 2019, he won the American League MVP award three times and finished second in the voting four times. In the years he didn’t win, he led the AL three times in WAR; in 2017, he led the AL in OBP, slugging and OPS, but he sat …