Mike Trout To Be MLB’s Highest-Paid Player Of 2018 With $34 Million Salary

Mike Trout has an impressive list of accomplishments for a 26-year-old baseball player, and now he can add another title to that list.

Mike Trout 2018 salary news

The Los Angeles Angels center fielder is set to become the sports’ top earner this year with an expected salary of $34.083 million for 2018.

Trout — a six-time All-Star who has been with the Angels since 2011 — has won two American League MVP Awards (2014, 2016), five Silver Slugger Awards and AL Rookie of the Year (2012).

With his 2018 salary, Trout will top Clayton Kershaw, who has been the highest-paid MLB player the last two years. The Dodgers ace earned $33 million in 2016 and 2017.

Trout — who got married to his longtime girlfriend Jessica Cox in December — inked a six-year, $144.5 million contract extension with the Angels in March 2014, thus choosing long-term security over progressively larger arbitration paydays. The outfielder missed several weeks in 2017 due to a thumb injury, but still finished fourth in MVP voting.

According to USA Today, Trout would receive $50,000 for All-Star Game MVP, $75,000 apiece for Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards, $75,000 for ALCS MVP, $100,000 for World Series MVP and $500,000 should he win his third AL MVP award.

Other MLB players who could land nine-figure contracts this year are top starting pitchers Jake Arrieta and Yu Darvish.

Here is the list of the top projected earners in baseball in 2018, barring any of the remaining free agents receiving higher paydays:

1. Mike Trout ($34.083M)
2. Clayton Kershaw ($33.288M)
3. Zack Greinke ($31.954M)
4. Miguel Cabrera ($30M)
4. David Price ($30M)
6. Yoenis Cespedes ($29M)
7. Justin Verlander ($28M)
8. Jon Lester ($27.5M)
9. Albert Pujols ($27M)
10. Jason Heyward ($26.055M)

Trout and Kershaw are special cases because they never hit free agency. Both players signed extensions with the teams that drafted them years before they could hit the open market. Kershaw is in the fifth year of a seven-year, $215 million deal.

ANAHEIM, CA – AUGUST 07: Mike Trout #27 of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim runs to second base after hitting a double during the fourth inning of a game against the Baltimore Orioles at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on August 7, 2017 in Anaheim, California. The hit marks his one thousandth hit of his career. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)