Mike Trout has been out of the Los Angeles Angels lineup since July 3 after an errant foul ball required surgery to remove the hamate bone in his left hand. The Angels put a four-to-eight-week timeline on Trout’s return, but acknowledged that it would be closer to the six-to-eight-week range.
In his absence, the Angels are 11-10 but have fought back after losing their first five games without him in the lineup. Despite additional injuries to Taylor Ward and Jo Adell, the Angels have bolstered the outfield with the additions of Randal Grichuk and Jordyn Adams, who is making his MLB debut on Wednesday.
Even still, getting Trout back drastically raises the ceiling of the Angels, who have made the decision to go for the postseason. And the superstar center fielder took a major step in his recovery this week.
In the last week, he’s taken dry swings with both a fungo bat and a real bat, according to Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com:
Trout took another step forward in his recovery on July 26, when the Angels allowed him to do some “really light, dry swings” with a fungo bat in Detroit. The slugger has a small pad on his batting glove, and manager Phil Nevin said it was “very encouraging” to see Trout walking around and carrying a bat for about 20 minutes to get used to the feel of it in his surgically repaired left hand. He took an even bigger step in his recovery on July 31, taking dry swings with a regular bat for the first time.
Trout also spoke about the stages of recovery for his hand injury and how he feels things have gone recently.
“[The swings] went better than expected,” Trout said. “It was a positive, for sure.”
No timetable has been confirmed for Trout’s return, but the six-to-eight-week timeline seems to still be intact for the Halo star. Six weeks from the date of the surgery — July 5 — would place a return on Aug. 16 in Texas against the Rangers.
Eight weeks would mean a return on Aug. 30 against the Philadelphia Phillies in the city of brotherly love. Those two weeks could make a major difference for the Angels’ postseason hopes, but they certainly aren’t going to rush Trout back into the lineup.
Randal Grichuk homers in debut
Luckily, it appears that the Angels outfield addition of Grichuk could pay off in a major way. Trout’s first-round draft mate from back in 2009 made a grand return to the Angels on Monday, homering in his debut with the team 14 years after they selected him.