The Angels are inserting veteran star Mike Trout on the injured record, Ron Washington instructed reporters (together with Sam Blum of The Athletic) after tonight’s recreation in opposition to the Tigers. Trout is coping with a bone bruise on his left knee, although Washington emphasised that the harm will not be thought-about “too critical” and that there’s been no structural injury to the 33-year-old’s knee. As famous by ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez, Trout suffered a number of meniscus tears in numerous components of his left knee final yr that required two separate surgical procedures. That’s the knee which he’s at the moment affected by a bone bruise on.
Whereas the truth that Trout’s ailment isn’t thought-about critical by Angels brass is at the least considerably encouraging, it’s onerous to count on followers to take a lot solace in that given Trout’s prolonged harm historical past. Trout performed simply 29 video games final yr attributable to these aforementioned meniscus surgical procedures, and missed all however 36 video games of the 2021 season attributable to a calf pressure. He performed in simply 82 video games in 2023 attributable to a hamate fracture, and the closest factor to a wholesome season Trout has put collectively on this decade was his 2022 marketing campaign the place he performed 119 video games. Even that yr, nonetheless, he was nonetheless sidelined for important time attributable to again points.
It’s a run of varied accidents that now spans half a decade, and that lack of time on the sector has knocked Trout off his pedestal as the sport’s consensus high expertise after holding that place nearly unchallenged for a decade. The 11-time All-Star and 3-time AL MVP’s numbers converse for themselves, as he’s a profession .297/.408/.579 hitter with 387 homers, 214 stolen bases, 85.8 bWAR and 85.7 fWAR over the course of his 15-year main league profession. This yr, the Angels made the choice to maneuver Trout off of his native heart discipline and into proper discipline in an effort to hopefully assist him keep brisker and keep away from accidents. Regardless of that change, Trout’s first journey to the injured record of the yr comes with simply 29 video games below his belt, the very same quantity he completed the 2024 season with.
In earlier years, Trout has maintained superstar-level manufacturing even in seasons abbreviated by harm. Whereas he was on the sector for simply 266 of Anaheim’s 648 video games from 2021 to 2024, he did slash an unbelievable .276/.376/.575 (160 wRC+) and accumulate 12 fWAR throughout these 266 video games. That’s not been the case this yr, nonetheless. In 121 journeys to the plate, Trout has really been barely beneath league common with a 96 wRC+. Whereas he’s clobbered 9 homers and walked at a wholesome (if diminished) 9.9% clip, Trout’s elevated 29.8% strikeout charge and shockingly low .159 BABIP have left him hitting simply .187 with a .264 on-base proportion. If he have been to play a full season, Trout absolutely wouldn’t keep that unbelievably low BABIP and would get pleasure from sufficient constructive regression to be an above-average general hitter, however the elevated strikeouts and decreased walks are a respectable trigger for concern about his capacity to stay a celebrity even when he have been to remain on the sector for a full marketing campaign.
In fact, all of that can stay largely speculative till Trout will get again on the sector for a major time frame. Whereas the membership terming the difficulty a bone bruise appears to counsel that he’ll be capable of come again comparatively shortly, it’s a analysis that comes with quite a lot of variability by way of timetable. On the extra optimistic aspect of issues, Cody Bellinger missed a few month when he suffered a bone bruise with the Cubs again in 2023. Extra regarding are the circumstances of Anthony Rendon in 2023 and Kyle Tucker final season.
Rendon fouled a ball off his left leg on July 4 two years in the past and missed the rest of the season with what the Angels termed a bone bruise even supposing Rendon himself instructed reporters he had really been identified with a fractured tibia. An analogous state of affairs performed out elsewhere within the AL West between Tucker and the Astros final yr, the place Tucker missed simply over three months attributable to what Houston initially termed a bone bruise however was later revealed to be a small shin fracture. It needs to be famous that smaller fractures like those Rendon and Tucker confronted are not any completely different from bone bruises by way of the remedy prescribed, making the excellence immaterial in some methods.
Even so, that some gamers can come again from bone bruises after only a month whereas others might miss half a season or extra attributable to an analogous subject highlights the uncertainty that now faces Trout and the Angels. Whereas it appears unrealistic to count on a agency timetable for Trout’s return given each that uncertainty and the veteran’s prolonged harm historical past, it’s truthful to count on a major absence at this level. Ryan Noda, Scott Kingery, and prospect Matthew Lugo are among the many potential choices who might be referred to as upon to hitch Jo Adell and Taylor Ward within the Angels’ outfield combine whereas Trout is on the shelf, and switch-hitter Gustavo Campero might see extra enjoying time after serving because the membership’s fourth outfielder previous to Trout’s harm.
