Baseball fans got some good news today in the form of a veteran pitcher Mike Trout told reporters (including The Athletic’s Sam Blum) this afternoon that he is “pain-free” and only has occasional soreness as he works his way back from surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee that he suffered in late April. . An initial report suggested a six-week recovery timeline is possible for the 32-year-old based on the same surgery that other players have had in the past, although the Angels have warned that they intend to take Trout’s rehab slowly to reduce the chances of re-injury.
They did, as tomorrow will mark two months since Trout went under the knife and still hasn’t started running, as he told reporters (including Blum) earlier today. While he doesn’t have an exact timeline for his return to IL or his return to running, Trout has indicated that he expects to return by the end of July. Given the fact that Trout will likely need a lengthy rehab assignment after being sidelined for two months, that timeline would suggest that the star expects to resume running in the short term.
The possibility of Trout’s return in the near future is certainly exciting, for Angels fans and fans around the baseball world. After all, the 32-year-old veteran was once considered the best player in the game and is a future Hall of Famer as an 11-time All Star who finished in the top 5 of AL MVP voting for nine consecutive seasons. a three-time award winner. Trout’s career line of .299/.410/.581 gives him the 12th highest wRC+ in MLB history, ahead of game legends like It says Cobb again Stan Musial.
Before entering the IL this season, Trout was off to an unusual start. The star hit a whopping 10 home runs in 29 games before going to IL, hit at a 21.4% clip that would be the lowest since the pandemic if sustained throughout the year, and boasted a solid 12.7% walk rate. . While those top-notch peripherals would suggest that Trout was the early favorite to win his fourth AL MVP award this year, the standout batting average on balls in play is just .194 for Trout with a slash line of “just” .220/. 325/.541 in 126 trips to the plate before being placed on the injured list. While most hitters would be happy to post a wRC+ of 138, that’s far from Trout’s peak.
Of course, this is far from the only injury that has plagued Trout in recent years. The veteran has played just 51% of the club’s games since the start of the 2020 season amid injury problems ranging from a calf and back injury to a broken hamate bone, in addition to knee surgery this season. Those injury problems not only cost Trout nearly half of his games over the past half-decade, but they also turned his contract with the Angels, which runs through the 2030 season, into a deal tied to the future Hall of Famer in the deal. the Halos might have trouble moving forward even if the organization and Trout himself decided they would like to part ways.
As talented as Trout is, it’s highly unlikely that his return can propel Anaheim into the postseason. The club’s 35-46 record leaves them 10.5 games back of the AL West and nine games back of the final AL Wild Card spot with a better record than only the lowly A’s and White Sox among all AL clubs. To finish the season with a .500 record, the Halos will need to hit a .568 clip all the way through, matching what the Braves did in the first half of this year.
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