FanGraphs Weekly Mailbag: April 25, 2026

A question popped into my head as I edited Ryan Blake’s column for the Nationals on Friday morning. In the piece, shortly after noting that James Wood ranked third on the league with a 170 wRC+, Ryan said that Wood’s teammate, CJ Abrams, was sixth with a 168 mark. When I read this, I held up our scoreboards to see if the Nationals were the only team with two players in the top ten. It turns out, yes. I thought about that for two seconds before something else caught my eye. Just below Abrams on the list was Mike Trout, who also had a 168 wRC+. This got me wondering: Can Trout return to form? Can they both stay healthy again production this year?

I’m not the only one who spent much of the 2020s dreaming of a fully healthy season from Trout, just as I’m not the only one who abandoned that hope as the injuries piled up. But after watching him blast home run after home run last week from the Yankee Stadium press box, I felt the tug of the past intrude on the present, and perhaps against my better judgment, I began to dream again. You are sure he looked healthy as his wide body blocks baseballs and center field. The best way to describe the way Trout moves – really, the way he’s been moving – is that he’s cutting rocks and stones; for all his natural athleticism and incredible combination of speed and power, he doesn’t slide well. I put that dream of a Trout revival on ice when the Angels left town, only to return a week later. This time, though, I figured that, at 34, he still has one MVP season left in him. He entered this weekend hitting .239/.417/.557 with eight home runs, and posted 1.2 WAR in 25 games. He walks more than hits, and has already stolen four bases. His BABIP is .228, 111 points below his career mark, so we should expect his batting average to see some nice drops. (Even if we know batting average isn’t the only indicator of a player’s performance, it’s still important to MVP voters.) His .483 xwOBA is second in the majors and 62 points higher than his wOBA. His defense has been below average so far, but if Trout keeps hitting like this, his glove won’t matter much to his MVP offense. The narrative would certainly be in his favor.

I just answered my own two questions from Friday in this postbag, so I think it’s time to get to yours. What if the Astros blow it all up? How can the Pirates benefit from the sale of Houston’s firemen? Why don’t teams develop bench players to become footballers? What the heck was Austin Warren doing in a game with the bases loaded in the Mets’ 12th straight loss? We answer all these questions and more in this week’s post bag. In addition, Jay Jaffe remembers Garret Anderson. But first, I’d like to remind you that this post bag is only available to FanGraphs members. If you are not yet a Member and would like to continue learning, you can sign up for Membership here. It’s the best way to experience the site and support our staff, and it comes with tons of other great benefits. Also, if you’d like to ask a question about a future mailbag, email me at mailbag@fangraphs.com.