Can Mike Trout be baseball's next .400 hitter?

The .400 batting average has become baseball’s equivalent of the white whale. With the exception of Tony Gwynn, who batted .394 in the strike-shortened 1994 season, no hitter has seriously threatened that mark over the course of a full campaign. However, one of baseball’s best-known players is off to a start fast enough to raise eyebrows.

Trout is off to the best start of his career

I'm referring to Angels center fielder Mike Trout, who’s hitting .365 through 34 games even after a recent 3-for-16 stretch over the past five contests. He was north of .400 as recently as last week, and his on-base percentage remains at a lofty .484.

Perhaps, more than anything else, Trout’s recent dip illustrates just how hard it is to hit .400. One can overcome an 0-for-4 day by going 3-for-4 in the next game, but if that cold game turns into a cold week, it makes the pursuit of that lofty goal much tougher.

Expect some regression in the weeks to come

I’m biased. I’m an Angels fan. I want Trout to go beyond .400 and hit .500. However, there’s a big, big reason to expect regression, and it comes in the form of one of my favorite stats.

Mike Trout’s BABIP, or batting average on balls in play, is .517, according to the folks at Baseball Reference. This is not a typo. More than half the balls he’s making contact with, that stay in the field of play, have turned into hits.

By comparison, his career-high BABIP over the course of a full season is .383, and that came in his first full season back in 2012. Gwynn’s BABIP during the historic 1994 season was .389, which actually seems unlucky, as that was lower than his overall batting average of .394. Even more remarkably, Gwynn hit .372 in 1997, and his BABIP was lower then, too, checking in at .363!

Hitting .400 has never been harder

At some point, Trout’s hard-hit balls that have been eluding fielders are going to get caught. Judging by the past five games, that may already be happening. Hitting .400 has never been easy, and it may be harder than ever now, in an age where the "three true outcomes" strategy seems to be running wild.

Trout’s torrid start has given us some hope, but even as an avid Halo enthusiast, I can’t see him threatening that .400 barrier over the course of a full season.