Three-time American League MVP Mike Trout said Thursday that his left knee is progressing well from surgery performed six days earlier, but the 11-time All-Star offered no timeline for his return.
Trout had the meniscus repaired after getting injured on April 29 against the Philadelphia Phillies. He still doesn’t know how he hurt the knee.
“I’m feeling good,” Trout told reporters in his first comments since the procedure. “Surgery went well. Just taking it day by day and feeling better every day, so it’s been good. No timeline. Just come in, rehab and hopefully it feels better every single day, see how it feels the next day and go from there.”
Trout, 32, said he was given the option to delay the surgery and serve as a designated hitter for the rest of the season. He weighed the situation and decided getting fully healthy was the better move.
“It was an option they put out there,” Trout said, speaking before the Angels hosted the Kansas City Royals. “It would have been just maintaining the pain level of it. The day I got the MRI and it showed that, I was in a lot of pain, so it would have been a tough road for the rest of the year to bear that. I felt the best option for me was to get it right and be fully healthy to come back soon.”
Trout led the majors with 10 homers at the time of his injury. However, he was batting just .220 with 14 RBIs and six steals in 29 games.
The injury was frustrating to Trout, who has been derailed by health issues in recent seasons. A calf injury limited him to 36 games in 2021, a back injury helped hold him to 119 games in 2022, and a broken hand last season limited him to one game after July 3 and 82 contests for the season.
“Obviously it’s frustrating, but you can’t really do much about it,” Trout said. “It is what it is. I play the game hard and stuff happens. I try to prepare my body and go out there and play every night and give 100 percent for the team, the fans, for everybody, and stuff just happens. I play the game hard.”
Trout is a career .299 hitter with 378 career home runs, 954 RBIs and 212 stolen bases in 1,518 games over 14 seasons, all with the Angels after he was a first-round draft pick (25th overall) in 2009.
The Angels are also without infielder Brandon Drury and injury-prone third baseman Anthony Rendon, both sidelined due to left hamstring strains.
Drury was placed on the 10-day injured list shortly before Thursday’s game. Drury is batting just .173 with one homer and six RBIs in 30 games this season. He smacked 26 homers last season.
Rendon was moved to the 60-day injured list on Thursday. Rendon is batting .267 with no homers and three RBIs in 19 games this season. He has played in just 219 games since joining the team prior to the 2020 season.
“We can’t approach it that we can’t play baseball because we don’t have this guy or we don’t have that guy,” Los Angeles manager Ron Washington said. “We’ve got to approach it where the guys we have, they’re good enough to do what the game asks of them to do. And we can still be successful. We miss the guys that aren’t here, no doubt about it. But our job is to hold things down until they return.”
The Angels acquired infielder Luis Guillorme from the Atlanta Braves on Thursday in exchange for a player to be named or cash considerations.
Los Angeles also claimed first baseman Niko Goodrum off waivers from the Tampa Bay Rays and recalled shortstop Kyren Paris from Double-A Rocket City. The team also recalled right-hander Kelvin Caceres (lat) from Triple-A Salt Lake and placed him on the 60-day injured list to open up a 40-man roster spot.
–Field Level Media