Can Byron Buxton Pass Mike Trout As Baseball’s Best Center Fielder?

Simply stay healthy for the entire season and play the way he has the past 3 seasons.

Oh boy.....3 for 3 yesterday and suddenly let's compare him to Trout?  Agree with the Mad King.......let's play more than 100 games this year.....and then we can talk.

I'm sorry but comparing Buxton to Trout is ridiculous.  It's so sad because he's hurt a lot.  He needs to play a full season.  To me at least 140 games and 500 plate appearances to see what he can do.  Labeling him as one of the great center fielders is a slap on the face to players like Trout who are able to stay on the field (except last year) and produce year after year.  These articles claiming Buxton to be a superstar are nearly moronic.  A few good offensive months in a SEVEN year career does not make you great.  Defensively yes absolutely.  He is maybe the best.  We will never know how great he may have been without all the injuries.  Here's hoping he can have a great season in 2022 and beyond.

I think Karbo hit the nail on the head.  As for talent, I think he is an equal to Trout, potentially maybe better.  Defensively, I am old enough to have seen Mays play CF on trips to SF, and he was the best defensive CF I had ever seen until Buxton.  Buxton is as good, maybe even a tad better than Mays, defensively.  Offensively, he has the potential to be better than Trout but we can't say that until he performs consistently over a period of time. Let's hope this is the year.  Actually, we have two generational talents on the team this year--Buxton and Correa.  They will be fun to watch.

24 minutes ago, Karbo said:

Yes I do believe Buxton is every bit as good as Trout, EXCEPT, he can't stay healthy. Some is not his fault. 

And some definitely is. 

He needs to learn how to make catches at the wall without killing himself. He had another one early in spring training that made the ESPN highlights, but it showed he still hasn't learned.  If he keeps hitting walls while in awkward positions, he will keep getting hurt.

I know it is every fans wish, but the few short seasons of production are a tease rather than a promise.  He has all the talent in the world, but let's wait a few seasons before we put him in the Trout, Mays category.  In the meantime I hope he is both healthy and productive and then the debate will be settled by him!

Mike Trout is inarguably the best player to put on a baseball uniform for the current generation. Fixed that for you. Also, love Buxton, favorite Non-Kirby Twin ever. But cmon. 

Tool for tool right now I say Buxton is better, only difference is Trout is more durable. If they play comparitively the same amount of games Buxton wins in my book.

Buxton is 2 years younger that Trout. In the next 2 years he can make up the difference in WAR between them one could say he is the greater player for CF.  As far as best current player for CF, somebody will come along when Trout starts to fade. The what if will be what defines Buxton

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

I know it is every fans wish, but the few short seasons of production are a tease rather than a promise.  He has all the talent in the world, but let's wait a few seasons before we put him in the Trout, Mays category.  In the meantime I hope he is both healthy and productive and then the debate will be settled by him!

Good point that he has not proven himself over time.  Hopefully, that will come.  But as to your Mays reference, he is at least as good as Mays defensively, and maybe better.  I am not suggesting that he is as accomplished as Mays from a complete player or career standpoint, but his defensive skills are as good as I have seen in my many, many years of watching centerfielders.  As you suggest, only time will tell if his career and longevity will justify putting him in either Trout or Mays category as complete players.

Just now, RJA said:

Good point that he has not proven himself over time.  Hopefully, that will come.  But as to your Mays reference, he is at least as good as Mays defensively, and maybe better.  I am not suggesting that he is as accomplished as Mays from a complete player or career standpoint, but his defensive skills are as good as I have seen in my many, many years of watching centerfielders.  As you suggest, only time will tell if his career and longevity will justify putting him in either Trout or Mays category as complete players.

I still have a difficult time putting Trout ahead of Mays.  But yes, longevity is part of Mays' resume - he was always a CF.

Let's look at their accomplishments:

Mays 156.1 WAR, lifetime 301/384/557  660 HR before the PEDs His OPS+ before he left the Giants - 157+ (21 years) 3293 hits and 23 years. 

Trout  76.1 WAR 305/419/583 310 HRs 1419 hits 176 OPS+ 11 years.  Now he needs to maintain this for 12 more years to match Willie.

Buxton 16.2 WAR 248/299/461 401 hits, 70 HRs OPS+ 102 for 7 years.  Why is this even a debate? Check in 10 years from now if Byron stays healthy.  I love his play, but right now he is on the outside looking in on this discussion. 

Trout is no longer more durable and only plays CF because he pushed back on having Brandon Marsh (a markedy better defender) take over.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2022-positional-power-rankings-center-field/

6 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

I still have a difficult time putting Trout ahead of Mays.  But yes, longevity is part of Mays' resume - he was always a CF.

Let's look at their accomplishments:

Mays 156.1 WAR, lifetime 301/384/557  660 HR before the PEDs His OPS+ before he left the Giants - 157+ (21 years) 3293 hits and 23 years. 

Trout  76.1 WAR 305/419/583 310 HRs 1419 hits 176 OPS+ 11 years.  Now he needs to maintain this for 12 more years to match Willie.

Buxton 16.2 WAR 248/299/461 401 hits, 70 HRs OPS+ 102 for 7 years.  Why is this even a debate? Check in 10 years from now if Byron stays healthy.  I love his play, but right now he is on the outside looking in on this discussion. 

Thanks for the response.  I agree with your analyis, but I never compared Trout to Mays or Buxton to Mays or Trout as accomplished players.  I am not debating that.  My only point, and I stand by it, is that I have seen enough of Buxton in the field to say he has better skills than Trout in CF, and at least as good if not better skills than Mays in CF.  Do you think Buxton's skills are equal to Mays based on seeing them both play?  I happen to think so.

10 minutes ago, RJA said:

Thanks for the response.  I agree with your analyis, but I never compared Trout to Mays or Buxton to Mays or Trout as accomplished players.  I am not debating that.  My only point, and I stand by it, is that I have seen enough of Buxton in the field to say he has better skills than Trout in CF, and at least as good if not better skills than Mays in CF.  Do you think Buxton's skills are equal to Mays based on seeing them both play?  I happen to think so.

Byron has more speed, but so far has not had the control that Mays had.  Mays always seemed to know where he was and when he made spectacular catches he was not in danger of bodily harm.   Byron this spring looks like the batter we all hoped he would be.  He is sensational, but so was Mays.  In Mays' 1954 MVP season his line was 345/411/667/1.078 and he was 23.  Byron was 27 last year when he had his best line 301/358/647/1.005.  To me the comparison is a long way from equal.  

I understand what you are asking and I just cannot make the full comparison.  Mays is what I wanted for the last seven years and last year was the first hint at Buxton's ceiling.  However at 28 he is already reaching a point where, like Trout, his speed will continue to diminish.  I do think that CF is Buxton's much longer than Trout. 

You can look at Byron's stats at age 27 and then you compare to Trout after his age 27 year. 305/419/591/1.000 are his totals.

Mays after his age 27 year 320/393/627/1.021 - these are the stats after Mays came back from military service in 1954. 

Yes, he can.... and he will IF he stays healthy.

Buckle up buttercups, he is going to have one special season.... IF he stays healthy....(just put that at the end of any Buck related post, kinda like 'in bed' after the end of any fortune cookie saying

1 hour ago, Lonestar said:

Trout is no longer more durable and only plays CF because he pushed back on having Brandon Marsh (a markedy better defender) take over.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2022-positional-power-rankings-center-field/

I agree with you. The Angels would be a better team if Trout moved to LF. While there is no question that Trout is the best offensive player of this generation he has become an average to below average defensive CF. In outs above average from 2016 to 2021, Trout has -3 OAA (worse than 40th on this list). 
 

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/outs_above_average?type=Fielder&startYear=2016&endYear=2021&split=no&team=&range=year&min=q&pos=8&roles=&viz=hide

Just imagine how good Buxton would be if he was on the field more than half the games  

3 hours ago, gil4 said:

And some definitely is. 

He needs to learn how to make catches at the wall without killing himself. He had another one early in spring training that made the ESPN highlights, but it showed he still hasn't learned.  If he keeps hitting walls while in awkward positions, he will keep getting hurt.

I think that this post is the one I agree with the most, and the one that scares me the most.  Buck can make the catches into the walls, the diving ones where he stretches himself out 110%, and the ones where he takes over for the corner guys, almost crashing into them.  He can do it all.  But he can't do it without getting hurt.  He has always had to choose, and he has always known it, between the spectacular and the safe, and we have seen the choices.  As for some of it not being his fault, I guess that is partly true.  He has fouled a ball off his foot and broke a bone.  He gets hit by a pitch in the hand and breaks a bone.  He runs the bases and pulls something, etc., etc., etc.  We have had to accept the fact he is fragile, physically.  In the prime of his life this may change, and if it does we can keep this debate going......and going......and going.  Let's hope we do.  

And let's hope the offense peaks as well.  We talk about last year, but he was over .400 when he got hurt, and he finished at, what?  .306 or there abouts?  That means he hit a fair amount below .300 the last weeks of the season to fall that far.  And as I mentioned in a different article, he had 19 homers and 23 doubles, but only had 32 RBI's to go with all that slugging percentage.  And how does he utilize his speed?  He needs to bunt more to loosen up the defense, and he only attempted 10 stolen bases last year.  For someone who can do it all, he doesn't seem to want to do it all.  He wants the flashy defense and the power numbers, not the bunt singles, the walks, the stolen bases, and all the little things that manufacture runs (you know, all the things that put Rod Carew in the HOF).   I am hoping (and rooting) for the complete player we know he can be.  Until then, Say Hey, Kid!

Buck has a chance to make a push at Cooperstown if he can stay healthy during this contract. 

Isn’t this is age 28 season?

He wont be as good as Trout until he learns to take a walk.

Buck needs to perform well and play several more seasons of injury-free seasons before we can even begin to compare.

But… er… Yes…?

6 hours ago, adorduan said:

He wont be as good as Trout until he learns to take a walk.

I don't think teams are that interested in walking Buxton as a walk given his steal potential is essentially a double.  He generally gets good pitches to hit because a walk equals a double and the worst he can do to a pitcher at the plate then is essentially a Home run.  A walk practically puts him in scoring position so they might as well go after him and force him to work his way on.

Maybe that will change given how many Home Runs he has been hitting but from what I have seen they go right after him. 

Trout has been hurt quite a bit lately.  But he is still a .305 career hitter with a .419 career on base percentage.  He has over 300 home runs and almost 1500 hits plus he has over 200 stolen bases and he's only 2 years older than Buck.  Trout won the rookie of the year, 9 x all star, 8 time silver slugger 3 x MVP.  If Buck were to become an All Star and win the silver slugger every year of his contract he still wouldn't catch Trout.  Man I would love to see Buck win the silver slugger the next 7 years straight because that would mean the twins would be doing really good.  But as much as I want it, I don't see Buck passing up Trout.  Trout is probably almost a hall of famer if he retired now.

Personally, the player of the past that most closely resembles Mike Trout is Mickey Mantle. Over the years when a new phenom would appear on the scene the sport writers would usually say, “he might be the next Mickey Mantle”. The Mick was one of the fastest players in the league, hit the ball the farthest, and won the triple crown. However, I do think that Buxton is in that category and if he stays healthy he could. take over as the best center fielder in the game. And most experts rank Mays as the best center fielder of all-time……which I agree with.

11 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

I still have a difficult time putting Trout ahead of Mays.  But yes, longevity is part of Mays' resume - he was always a CF.

Let's look at their accomplishments:

Mays 156.1 WAR, lifetime 301/384/557  660 HR before the PEDs His OPS+ before he left the Giants - 157+ (21 years) 3293 hits and 23 years. 

Trout  76.1 WAR 305/419/583 310 HRs 1419 hits 176 OPS+ 11 years.  Now he needs to maintain this for 12 more years to match Willie.

Buxton 16.2 WAR 248/299/461 401 hits, 70 HRs OPS+ 102 for 7 years.  Why is this even a debate? Check in 10 years from now if Byron stays healthy.  I love his play, but right now he is on the outside looking in on this discussion. 

Yes. This is correct. Anyone that doubts any part of this should spend a few minutes on a Baseball-Reference site. Oh, and look up the number of putouts and assists by Mays, Trout, and Buxton. A helpful note - there were stopwatches in the 20th century. Finally, I have consistently been a huge fan of Byron Buxton and will not be surprised if he does win an MVP and Mike Trout is hands down the best MLB player of the last decade.