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.