Mike Trout tops 2018 list of highest earning MLB players

AOL.com Editors
Updated

Spring training has finally arrived and despite a lackluster offseason for free agents, several surprising names have bolstered their ranking on the league’s highest-paid players list.

Two-time Most Valuable Player for the Los Angeles Angels Mike Trout is this year's highest-paid player, topping Clayton Kershaw who held the top spot in 2016 and 2017. Trout, widely regarded as the best player in baseball, will make $34.083 million this season.

Kershaw brought in $33 million each of the last two seasons and is expected to make another $33.238 million in 2018. This year marks the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher's fifth year of a seven-year, $215 million deal, reports USA Today.

Giancarlo Stanton jumped from No. 69 on the list of highest-paid MLB players in 2017, earning $14.5 million, to No. 12 on this year's list after signing with the New York Yankees in December. The slugger is expected to bring in $25 million in 2018.

Check out the MLB players who will make at least $20 million this year:

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