What Motivates Mike Trout? An Analysis of Achievement Goal Orientation
By Jessica Maes
Mike Trout has played baseball at the highest level for thirteen seasons. He currently has a contract with the Los Angeles Angels for $426.5 million, over twelve years, guaranteed. Earlier this week, Trout was emotional when talking about a frustrating season where he appeared in just 82 games due to a wrist injury and his team will finish the season below 500: “I came back probably sooner than I should have. I wanted to be out there with the guys, pushed it and it was just sore and I was just uncomfortable. When I came back I was in pain, my swinging wasn’t right and I just wasn’t myself… I was taking it day by day waiting for the soreness and discomfort to go away and it never did. Giving it a few extra weeks off it’s now [starting to] go away”.
Considering Trout has the largest contract in the history of Major League baseball that’s guaranteed whether he plays or not, what motivated him to return to the playing field admittedly too soon? Love of the game? Love of winning? Social pressure? Some, all, or none of the above? An analysis of Achievement Goal Orientation may offer some possible answers.
Task Goal Orientation
The emphasis of task goal orientation is self-improvement, and the overall goal is mastery. Having already been an All-Star eleven times, recipient of the American League MVP award three times, the Silver Slugger Award nine times, and a host of other awards, one may wonder how he could possibly improve his game or why he would want to. However, Trout has never been in a World Series, and the Angels have only made the playoffs one time in Trout’s career. While Trout has collected plenty of external, individual rewards, he may very well be motivated by a desire to continue to improve and remain healthy so he can do his part and help his team achieve the highest team award in the game. When asked about Trout’s future with the team he replied: “there’s nobody in the Angels locker room that wants to win more than me.”
Ego Goal Orientation
Ego goal orientation is another type of achievement goal orientation, and the emphasis is on being better than someone else. While Trout is undoubtedly a competitor, there is no evidence that his aspirations stray from being team focused. While very few other teams in the league could afford to inherit Trout’s contract via a trade anyway, Trout appears to be committed to his teammates and the only organization he’s ever played for, saying: “I’m just doing the same thing I’ve done the last 13 years, just going thru the offseason and getting ready for spring and I’ll be wearing the Angels uniform come next spring.” Someone with ego goal orientation may instead research what team in the league would give him the best chance to win and seek a trade.
Social Approval Goal Orientation
Social approval goal orientation is another type of goal orientation that some (but not all) researchers feel exists. The emphasis of social approval goal orientation is, as the name suggests, social acceptance through conformity to norms while displaying maximum effort (p. 81). Like the analysis of Trout and ego goal orientation, there is no evidence to support that he is motivated by social acceptance. Year after year, interview after interview, his focus is on how to help his team win more games.
A Study of Goal Orientations in Sport
A 2009 study of goal orientations in sport gave 511 participants (159 women, 352 men, all professional athletes) five separate assessments. The overall findings were: “It therefore seems that athletes who find satisfaction experiencing mastery, who perceive in the motivational climate in which they are immersed that hard work is rewarded, and who believe that success depends on their effort, will develop a task goal orientation, which in turn is consistent with the findings from other studies… However, athletes who find satisfaction showing greater skill than the others, who perceive a motivational climate that leads them to surpass each other, and in which the trainer punishes those who make mistakes and rewards only the best players, and what motivates them when practising sport is to achieve certain social status and be popular, will have an ego goal orientation, which is in line with conclusions from other research work…)” (pp. 27-28). In general, this study confirmed the theory of traditionalists such as Treasure, Duda, Hall, Roberts, Ames, and Maher (2001) (p. 80) that there are only two achievement goal orientations, and it also supports a hypothesis that Mike Trout’s motivation is more task goal oriented as he displays none of the characteristics of ego goal orientation described in the study.
Conclusion
Mike Trout’s emotions this week leave no doubt about his love for the game of baseball and his team the Los Angeles Angels. Having achieved almost everything an individual player can achieve except the World Series Championship, it would seem that while his motivation still comes from a place deep inside, his desire to return to the field is to do his part to reach a collective goal.
References
Cox, R. H. (2012). Sport Psychology Concepts and Applications (7th ed., pp. 80-81). McGraw-Hill.
Gunzelman, M. (2023, September 26). Mike Trout Cried While Talking About His Disappointing Angels Season This Year Outkick. Retrieved September 27, 2023, from https://www.outkick.com/mike-trout-cried-while-talking-about-his-disappointing-angels-season-this-year/
Hilgado, F. P., Navas, L., & Lopez-Nunez, M. (2010). Goal orientations in sport: A causal model. European Journal of Education and Psychology, 27-28. https://doi.org/10.1989/ejep.v3i1.43
Jessica is a first-year master’s student in the Sport, Exercise, & Performance Psychology program at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Wisconsin – Parkside and is currently a Writing Tutor at The Learning Center at UWGB. She is also certified as a grant writer from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire and from Learn Grant Writing. Connect with Jessica on LinkedIn.
