The Angels will be waiting for the newest addition to their family, and to the return of superstar Mike Trout to the team.
Meanwhile, the rest of the major leagues are waiting to see if there’s any way the 28-year-old Trout, baseball’s consensus best player, will gain superhuman “Dad Strength.”
Trout, the Angels’ three-team AL MVP centerfielder, left the team Thursday to attend to the birth of his first child.
The Angels did not make an announcement as to whether the birth was imminent. Trout told reporters last week that his wife, Jessica Tara Trout, was due to give birth on Monday to a son, but it was unknown whether this is still the timetable.
“The manager’s the last to know,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said after Thursday’s game, saying he had no other details.
Over the first six games, Trout was batting .292 with a home run, a double and four runs batted in and an OPS of .815.
Trout was placed on the MLB Paternity List, which allows Trout to be replaced from on the roster from anywhere from one to three games. If Trout doesn’t return to the Angels by Sunday, the team will be one player short-handed.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, MLB protocols state that Trout isn’t required to quarantine in order to return to the team.
Trout would merely need to pass the standard protocols, which include every-other-day coronavirus testing and temperature checks.
The Angels host the Seattle Mariners Thursday night before taking on the World Series runners-up Houston Astros for a weekend series at Angel Stadium.