Los Angeles Angels star outfielder Mike Trout will require left knee surgery for a torn meniscus but could return this season, Angels general manager Perry Minasian said on Tuesday.
The 32-year-old American slugger, an 11-time American League All-Star and three-time AL Most Valuable Player, shares the Major League Baseball home run lead with 10 this season and has batted .220 with 14 runs batted in plus six stolen bases.
While Minasian said the operation is not expected to end Trout’s season, he gave no timetable for his possible return.
This marks the fourth consecutive season that Trout has been hampered by an injury. He hasn’t managed to play in 140 of the Angels’ 162 games in a season since 2018.
Last year, a broken hamate bone in his left wrist kept Trout to only 82 games while in 2022 he missed more than a month with a July back strain. In 2021, Trout played in only 36 contests due to a calf strain.
At 11-18, the Angels are fourth in the AL West division, 1.5 games ahead of the last-place Houston Astros.
Trout has a career .220 batting average with 378 homers, 954 RBI and 212 stolen bases.
While regarded as one of the top players of his era, Trout has seen the Angels struggle since 2012 when the was the AL Rookie of the Year.
The Angels have missed the playoffs for the past nine years and reached the post-season only once since Trout arrived, being swept out by Kansas City in the opening round in 2014 after winning the AL West crown at 98-64, their best season with Trout on the roster.
The Angels have suffered eight losing seasons in a row, haven’t won a playoff series since 2009 and won their only World Series title in 2002.
Despite such playoff futility, Trout was named AL MVP in 2014, 2016 and 2019.
The Angels also had boasted two-time AL MVP Shohei Ohtani, who took the award in 2021 and last year but left after 2023 and signed with the cross-town rival Los Angeles Dodgers for this season.
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