Mike Trout’s return to the Los Angeles Angels this season may have hit a snag.
The superstar slugger only played two innings during the first Triple-A game in his rehabilitation assignment due to soreness in his left knee, according to the team. He is considered day to day.
Alden González @Alden_Gonzalez
Mike Trout was removed from his first Triple-A rehab game after two innings with soreness in his surgically repaired left knee, the Angels announced. The expectation was that he would return by week’s end. That might no longer be the case, though that part is unclear.
Trout tore his left meniscus in April and underwent surgery shortly thereafter.
Injuries have become the prevalent storyline of Trout’s career in recent seasons.
The 32-year-old only played 36 games in 2021, 119 games in 2022, 82 games last season and just 29 this year. When healthy, Trout was the 2012 AL Rookie of the Year, a three-time MVP and 11-time All-Star.
He was arguably the best overall player in baseball during his prime. But if you subscribe to the old adage that availability is the best ability, Trout has lost his place atop the mantle.
That may have happened anyway given the emergence of superstars like Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Ronald Acuña Jr. and others around the sport. But his inability to stay on the field has no doubt been frustrating for him, and a major bummer for baseball fans.
In the process, the Angels have seen just about everything go wrong for their franchise.
Anthony Rendon was signed to a massive deal ahead of the 2020 season and has been a huge bust. Ohtani departed for the Los Angeles Dodgers this past offseason. Trout has struggled to stay on the field. The team is well on its way to a ninth straight losing season, which will extend its playoff drought to 10 years.
The hope this month was that a Trout return was imminent. That is now in question.
“Hopefully that’s another progression he’s making and we can have him back,” Angels manager Ron Washington told reporters on Tuesday while discussing Trout’s Triple-A rehab assignment. “I don’t know exactly when, but let’s see how it goes in Salt Lake City and then make a call from there.”
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