Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout stormed his way into the record books Thursday night, using a four-hit performance against the Texas Rangers to become the fastest player in franchise history with 500 career hits, per Angels Director of Communications Eric Kay.
Trout reached the milestone in just 423 games, surpassing the record of 428 games previously held by Garret Anderson.
The 22-year-old outfielder entered Thursday’s contest with 498 career hits and proceeded to fill out the box score in a 15-6 blowout victory. Not only did Trout record a hit in four of his five at-bats, but he also finished the night with a home run, three runs and four RBI.
Set to turn 23 August 7, Trout is already shaping up as a threat to take down Anderson’s franchise record of 2,368 hits.
While never considered a true superstar, Anderson played for the Angels from 1994 to 2008 and was a productive hitter for most of that span. In addition to the franchise hits mark, he also holds Angels records for games (2,013), runs (1,024), RBI (1,292) and total bases (3,743), among others. His 272 home runs in a Halos uniform are good for second in franchise history, trailing only the 299 of retired slugger Tim Salmon.
Trout still has a ways to go before reaching Anderson in any of the counting stats, but he’s the all-time franchise leader in both on-base percentage (.403) and slugging percentage (.553).
Even more impressive, Trout is responsible for the two best seasons in franchise history as measured by wins above replacement (WAR), having posted a 10.8 WAR in 2012 and 8.9 WAR in 2013, per Baseball-Reference.com.
Assuming he sticks around in Anaheim for the long haul, Trout could one day be the Angels’ all-time leader in nearly every significant offensive category.
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