ANAHEIM, Calif. — Angels superstar Mike Trout, hoping for a fully healthy season after being significantly limited by injury the past three years, needs knee surgery, general manager Perry Minasian said Tuesday.
Trout has a torn meniscus in his left knee, Minasian said.
The procedure, which is believed to be scheduled for Friday, isn’t considered to be season ending. A source familiar with Trout’s injury said a four- to six-week timetable is a best-case scenario, but a true timeline won’t be established until doctors take a closer look.
“It’s just frustrating, but we’ll get through it,” an emotional Trout said in the clubhouse.
Trout played the entire game Monday, a come-from-behind, 6-5 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, and even stole a base.
Trout said he wasn’t sure when he sustained the tear but that he felt an ache in his knee when running in from the third inning. The soreness wasn’t persistent during the game but his knee ached all night, and he underwent an MRI on Tuesday morning that revealed the tear.
Trout, 32, finished first or second in MVP voting seven of eight years from 2012 to 2019, putting him on a path to becoming possibly the greatest player in baseball history. But injuries robbed him of significant chunks of playing time coming off the COVID-shortened season of 2020.
Trout played in only 237 of a potential 486 games from 2021 to 2023, suffering injuries to his calf, back and hand. He entered the 2024 season reinvigorated, even hoping to run the bases more freely. Trout accomplished that through the Angels’ first 29 games, hitting a major league-leading 10 home runs but also stealing six bases, the same total he had from 2020 to 2023.
Now, though, he is faced with another injury rehab.