Angels superstar Mike Trout is a brand-new father now, and he could be back in the lineup as early as Sunday. It’s also unknown if Trout will be possessing the “Dad Strength” of urban legend.
Angels manager Joe Maddon said before Saturday’s game in a conversation with reporters that the baby son of Mike and Jessica Trout had arrived safely.
In a tweet an hour later, Trout himself announced the birth of Beckham Aaron Trout, a 7-pound, 10-ounce, 20.75-inch boy, born at 5:10pm on Thursday.
(Eagle-eyed reader Lee Keller quickly pointed out that the initials of Trout’s son spell out the word: BAT.)
Maddon also said that he hoped that Trout would be available for the Angels on Sunday in the finale of their three-game series against the Houston Astros in Anaheim.
With a scheduled day off Monday though, it’s possible that Trout could wait until Tuesday and rejoin the Angels on the road in Seattle.
“I hope to (have Trout in the lineup),” Maddon said. “That would be the optimal plan. I’ve already written things down to put him in the lineup for tomorrow. That’d be so nice to be able to do that, and then finally getting us really close to the the kind of lineup we thought we were going to have after the second camp.”
Saturday is the last day of Trout’s three-day stint on the MLB Paternity List. If Trout chooses not to return to the Angels on Sunday, the club would have to play with only 29 players on the current 30-man roster.
Trout had expressed concerns at the start of July about trying to play during the 2020 pandemic-affected season with a newborn baby in his household.
Trout allayed those worries on July 22 after meetings and assurances with Angels officials and teammates that all concerned with the team would do their utmost to conform to the league’s safety and health protocols amid COVID-19.
He passed on a simple tweet that day from the Angels’ front office saying: “Confirmed. #GoAngels. I’m playing. — Mike Trout”
The Angels centerfielder was batting .292 with a home run, a double and four RBI when he left the team for the paternity list and the birth. The Angels are now 2-6 on the season.
Trout’s return to the Angels may be a moot point unless MLB and the players’ association can get a firmer grip on recent outbreaks of coronavirus within the league.
Earlier Saturday, Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Lorenzo Cain became the latest high-profile MLB star to decide to opt out of the rest of this shortened season.
Several teams have been affected in recent weeks after an outbreak of coronavirus infected the majority of the Miami Marlins last week, forcing a rash of postponements of games.
Cain made his decision not to play after four more members of the St. Louis Cardinals tested positive for COVID-19, postponing Saturday’s game between the Cards and the Brewers.
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