The lingering fear in the back of Mike Trout’s mind throughout his rehab process centered on his level of soreness.
As he worked his way back from a torn meniscus, he said, he’d have days where he was too sore to progress. He’d train one day and his knee wouldn’t bounce back the next.
It kept stunting his timetable to return to the Los Angeles Angels’ lineup. An injury that was supposed to take one-to-two months turned into a three-month ordeal.
“Just getting exercises I could do to get strength and not being sore the next day — that’s the biggest thing,” Trout said of why his injury has taken longer than expected. “Just finding that limit to push it.”
Unfortunately for the three-time MVP, Trout apparently hit that limit earlier than he would have liked Tuesday night in Salt Lake City. During the first game of a rehab assignment with the Triple-A Bees, Trout was pulled from the lineup after two innings due to knee soreness. He’s now listed as day-to-day.
Coming into the night, Trout thought he had finally figured out how hard he could push himself. He went to Arizona to face live pitching. He traveled to Salt Lake to play in a handful of Triple-A games before returning to the Angels’ lineup. He wanted a final test on how his knee would respond.
He was injured on April 29. His first live game took place on July 23.
“I have to get through the whole [process of] being out in the field and getting back and recovering the next day,” he said at batting practice Tuesday afternoon. “We will see. Get through tonight and see how I am tomorrow.”
The first returns were not ideal. Trout started in center field and batted second in the order. He caught three fly balls and had one at-bat, a strikeout looking. He lasted just two innings before being pulled due to soreness in his knee.
Trout didn’t expect to play the full game, but he certainly wanted more action than he got. He went through his entire pre-game routine, including base running, to simulate getting his knee ready to play in a major league game.
“Have a routine to get your knees fired up before the game, and [then] being able to recover after is the biggest hurdle, big step,” he said.
Before Trout was pulled from Tuesday’s game, he indicated several times he felt like he was completely healthy. The issue, he said, was not whether his knee healed from the meniscus tear. It was more so managing the pain after, and how the knee reacts to activity.
“I’m 100% right now,” he insisted earlier in the day.
He did acknowledge the entire rehab process has been frustrating because of how long it has taken. He expected to be back with the Angels much sooner.
“Oh yeah,” he said. “But I just listened to my body and I feel good now. That’s all that matters.”
He added that he felt more annoyed because he thought he came into 2024 better prepared to avoid injuries. He hasn’t played more than 120 games since 2019. Last year, he played in just 82.
“It’s frustrating. The work you put in ... I made a lot of changes [before the year] to what I was doing to keep me on the field. It is what it is. Looking forward to getting back,” he said.
Trout said he doesn’t know how many Triple-A games it will take for him to feel ready. He said the Angels did not give him an exact date to return. It is unclear if him exiting Tuesday night’s game early will extend his stay in Utah.
“I don’t know exact days,” he said Tuesday afternoon. “One game at a time. See how I recover from playing tonight and go from there.”
Trout hopes to come back to the Angels right before the trade deadline. The franchise could reset by being selling talent at the end of this month.
Last year, the Angels chose to be buyers at the deadline in the last year of two-way star Shohei Ohtani’s contract. The organization thought they could chase a playoff spot and keep Ohtani. Instead, the Angels again missed the postseason. Ohtani walked away to the Dodgers. The Angels got nothing in return.
Trout is still under contract with the Angels for six years. He did not say how he feels about his own situation, or the franchise’s, going into the July 31 deadline.
“I’ve been focusing on just getting back,” he said.
That alone has been a larger hurdle than anyone expected.
