Chicago White Sox: Was Frank Thomas a better hitter than Mike Trout?
The Chicago White Sox’ greatest player in franchise history is a comparable player to the guy who many believe is the greatest player ever.
It is no secret that the best player in Chicago White Sox history is Frank Thomas. He was a brilliant hitter for the White Sox for such a long time. He is, in a lot of people’s minds, the best right-handed hitter of all time. If you don’t have him as the best, you probably have him in the top-five. Either way, there is no denying his greatness. There is a reason that he is in the Hall of Fame.
A lot of people watch a guy like Mike Trout and consider him the best player in the world. Guess what? He is the best player in the world and he is likely going to go down as the greatest player of all time in a lot of people’s minds. With that in mind, Frank Thomas was a comparable hitter to Mike Trout in a lot of ways. Trout is the definition of a five-tool player so nobody is saying Thomas is a better all-around player than Trout, but he was a comparable hitter.
A picture popped up on twitter with statistics put together by the great Christopher Kamka of NBC Sports Chicago. It was a graphic that compared Mike Trout and Frank Thomas’ first eight years of offensive production. Trout played in 1065 games and Thomas played 1076 games in the first eight years of his career and the stats are very intriguing.
In those eight years, Trout hit 240 home runs while Thomas had 257. Trout slashed .307/.416/.573 and Thomas slashed .330/.452/.600. Trout’s wRCplus was at 172 while Thomas was at 177. It was a remarkable eight years for both of them but it is impressive to think that Thomas is a comparable hitter.
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Now, Thomas’s career WAR is 73.8. Trout is already at 72.8 and he is only 28 years old. He will pass him in WAR not long into whenever baseball comes back. Trout is a significantly better all-around player but Thomas was just as good of a hitter. Most of the time anywhere from the 68-71 range gets a guy into the Hall of Fame and Trout is going to soar past that. It is a treat to watch as a baseball fan and thinking about Thomas as a comparable hitter is even more fun.