Mike Trout Out Indefinitely with Left Meniscus Tear That Requires Surgery

Good things just don’t happen to Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels.

ESPN’s Alden González and Jeff Passan first reported Tuesday evening that Trout needs surgery to repair a torn meniscus, which Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register relays is in his left knee. Angels general manager Perry Minasian has confirmed the injury. Without giving a specific timeline, Minasian did say that the Halos do anticipate Trout playing again this season.

Nonetheless, it’s a massive blow as the Angels lose the three-time AL MVP yet again to an injury. Between 2021 and 2023, Trout was limited to 237 of a possible 486 games, which limited his ability to add to his Hall of Fame resume, and the Los Angeles’ potential to compete while Shohei Ohtani was still with the team. Now, Ohtani is gone, and Trout will join Anthony Rendon on the injured list, an unfortunately common occurance in recent seasons.

While Trout was hitting just .220, he currently leads baseball with 10 home runs. The 11-time All-Star also has an .867 OPS and 1.1 fWAR, so he had been among the better players in the sport once again before going down.

Missing a substantial chunk of the year for the fourth season in a row — on top of 2020 only being 60 games because of the pandemic — will limit the counting numbers that Trout ultimately amasses.

Set to turn 33 in August, Trout is currently sitting on 378 home runs, and appeared to have a good chance to get to 400 this season. That feels unlikely to happen, and someone who once seemed like a lock to join the 600 club now is more of a toss up.

Mike Trout needs knee surgery, per @JeffPassan.

His timetable is unknown but it is not expected to be season ending.

Trout had an .867 OPS with 10 HR 6 stolen bases 142 wRC+ and 1.0 fWAR in 29 games.

💔 pic.twitter.com/iNnMV1fA3z

— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) April 30, 2024

Additionally, this throws a wrench into any idea of Trout potentially asking for and receiving a trade from the Angels this summer. Who knows, the trade deadline is on July 30, so there’s still a ton of time until then.

But if Trout misses a ton of time before then, will he A) feel like he’s in position to ask for a trade? and B) have serious suitors? Trout is due $212.4 million between 2024 and 2030, and proving he could stay healthy for a full season would have made him much more appealing if he was indeed interested in moving on from the Angels.

Now, it appears it will be another lost season for the 11-18 Angels, and, more importantly, one of the greatest players in the history of the sport.