The Latest Mike Trout Injury Highlights The Angels Failures Again

Years from now, many of us will say Mike Trout was the greatest ballplayer we’ve ever seen, but we’ll have to provide an injury disclaimer. The Los Angeles Angels outfielder landed on the injured list again yesterday with a bone bruise in his surgically repaired left knee.

The injury isn’t considered serious and there’s no structural damage, but it’s a familiar refrain for the future Hall of Famer. Trout has played 29 games this season, which is the same amount he played all of last year. In both campaigns, his season halted in late April, and last year, it never resumed. He hasn’t been in the lineup in the month of September since 2022. He has averaged just 58 games per season over the last six years and hasn’t played more than 140 games in a season since 2016.

Trout, who will turn 34 in August, moved from center field to right field this year in an effort to preserve his body, especially since his speed and defense are wearing down with age. While his nine home runs are tied for third in the American League, he is hitting only .179 with a .264 on-base percentage. His strong batted-ball metrics and unsustainably low .159 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) indicate he has been unlucky and deserves a higher batting average, but his plate discipline has declined too. His 29.8% strikeout rate is the highest of his career, and his 9.9% walk rate represents the first time it has been below 10.0% since his 40-game debut at age 19 in 2011.

It’s a testament to how great he was in his prime that he’s still one of the most marketable players in MLB. He’s projected to have the seventh-highest earnings in baseball this season, including off-the-field endorsements.

The biggest chunk of that is his $37.1 million salary. He’s in the middle of a 12-year, $426.5 million extension with the Angels that spans from 2019-2030. Along with third baseman Anthony Rendon’s disastrous seven-year, $245 million contract, the team has two aging, chronically injured players who account for roughly one third of their entire payroll.

Through no fault of Trout’s, the Angels have been inept at building a complete team for the entirety of his career. Despite employing one of the greatest players of all time for 15 years—not to mention other MVPs like Shohei Ohtani and Albert Pujols—the Angels have only made the playoffs once in Trout’s career, getting swept in the 2014 Division Series. Unless the 12-18 Angels somehow turn their season around, this will be their tenth consecutive year with a losing record.

At his peak, Trout’s greatness was unparalleled. He is a three-time MVP, and his 85.8 career WAR (Baseball-Reference version) is the fifth-most ever by a center fielder. He trails only Willie Mays, Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, and Mickey Mantle, and he’s just ahead of Ken Griffey Jr. and Joe DiMaggio on the leaderboard.

It’s almost unthinkable that such a legendary player would consistently play for losing teams, having never won a playoff game in the era of expanded postseasons. There’s no doubt that Mike Trout’s prime is over now, so the Angels have a much more difficult task of building a playoff team when they can only rely on their superstar for short bursts each year.