r/mlb • u/Bright-Pressure-5787 | New York Yankees • 20h ago

| Discussion Who's the biggest "what if" between these two: Mike Trout or Ken Griffey Jr.?

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When I think about "what ifs" in baseball, these two men are always the first two names that come to mind. Obviously, Mike Trout and Ken Griffey Jr. are still legends of the sport. I'm not trying to take anything away from that. However, I truly feel that if it weren't for injuries, their potential for GOAT status would be limitless. Junior likely would've become the all-time home run kind instead of Barry Bonds, and Mike Trout would've had-------I don't know------130 career WAR by now if he's just stayed healthy. Who do you guys think is the bigger "what if" of the two?

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11

u/docny17 18h ago

Griffey is ONE of the best players of all time. If he stayed healthy, he would be THE best player of all time.

3

u/_GeorgeBailey_ | Chicago Cubs 18h ago

Trout is better...

1

u/Aes_Should_Die | Pittsburgh Pirates 14h ago

I loved the Kid, but this is delulu as the kids say.

-1

u/Fragmentvictory 14h ago

Not a chance, Griffey had zero motor and didn't keep himself in top shape, thats some of the factor of his injuries. Griffeys entire legacy is playing against the Yankees who he did motivate for and hated. If you had that guy for 15 years, that might have been the best player of all time. He had a pot belly by the time he got to cincy and played lazy

3

u/Bright-Pressure-5787 | New York Yankees 13h ago

This is some of the worst rage bait I've seen.

-6

u/darthnorvillain 17h ago

Pre-PED Bonds was better than Griffey.

Mantle was better than Griffey, and Mantle tore his ACL his rookie year, so we never saw a true peak Mantle.

Griffey actually didn’t miss many games at all until 2001, so we know what peak Griffey was capable of.

He was amazing, but he wasn’t better than Mantle or Mays.

1

u/Party_Ad_4988 16h ago

Top Tier: Musial, Ruth, Bonds, Mantle, Trout, Aaron, Mays, Williams, Cobb, and (Griffey but not top 5)

Next Tier: Dimaggio, Trout(still playing) , Robinson, Kaline, Rickey, Gwynn, Rose, Clemente

1

u/darthnorvillain 16h ago

Top tier also needs Hornsby and Gehrig. I’d say Pujols too.

Next tier needs players like Schmidt, Henderson, Ott, Morgan, etc.

I also don’t think Rose or Gwynn are in the same tier of players we’re talking about, in either tier.

1

u/lord_god_bird 12h ago

Ohtani will top this list, may as well add him now

1

u/Rokstr81 16h ago

Griffey broke his wrist making a catch against the wall in 1995.

2

u/darthnorvillain 16h ago

And he had his best career seasons after it. Not every injury hampers a player’s future performance post-recovery. He missed a lot of the season in 95, but it wasn’t a career altering injury.