Way back in September of 2020, Mike Trout hit a home run off of Houston Astros right-hander Brandon Bielak for the 300th home run of his career. The blast moved him past Tim Salmon’s career total of 299 and made Trout the Angels’ all-time leader in home runs. It was an amazing accomplishment, especially since the phenomenal, home-grown talent was so young – Trout had turned 29 years-old just a few weeks before this home run. Back then it was easy to dream about just how far Trout’s home run hitting prowess could take him. With another healthy ten years ahead of him, could he dare to challenge Babe Ruth’s American League career home run record of 714 bombs? One could hope.
Of course, Trout’s health problems over the past few seasons made the career American League home run title an impossibility, but there is one major home run milestone that Trout is on the cusp of reaching. It is one that, sadly, baseball’s media world is oblivious to – Mike Trout is about to become the American League West’s all-time career home run hitter.
The AL West was created in 1969 to accommodate the expansion of the American League from ten to twelve teams. The founding teams of this division were the California Angels, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics, and Seattle Pilots. Over the decades, the division has also been home to the Milwaukee Brewers, Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners, and Houston Astros. At the end of its inaugural season, the AL West career leader in home runs was Harmon Killebrew of the Twins who belted 49 homers in 1969.
And now, after fifty plus years of the AL West’s existence, its all-time career home run leader is about to be an Angel, Michael Nelson Trout. It is a testament to the current Angel management’s lackadaisical effort that no one knows about this. In a season where the Angels could possibly lose 100 games for the first time in franchise history, the “Trout Becoming AL West HR Leader” storyline would have been something Angel fans could have cheered for and been proud of. There should have been a giant leaderboard in the Angel Stadium concourse somewhere tracking Trout’s progress past the AL West’s all-time great sluggers like there was for Albert Pujols when he was chasing his home run milestones. The current AL West career home run record-holder could have been invited to Angel games to be on hand to witness the passing of the torch and to congratulate Trout. Oh well.
So whose career AL West home run record is Trout about to snatch and claim as his own? If you’ve been thinking about it, you have probably figured it out. Here are the current (at the time I wrote this article) top ten career home run totals by players who have represented the American League West:
10. Edgar Martinez, SEA, 309
9. George Brett, KCR, 317
8. Nelson Cruz, TEX/SEA, 320
7. Rafael Palmeiro, TEX, 321
6. Alex Rodriguez, SEA/TEX, 345
5. Reggie Jackson, OAK/CAL, 362
4. Mark McGwire, OAK, 363
3. Juan Gonzalez, TEX, 372
2. Mike Trout, LAA, 415
1. Ken Griffey, Jr., SEA 417
When Trout hits home run number 418, someone please let him know what has done. If I know Trout, he’ll probably think this accomplishment is pretty cool.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
