The Los Angeles Angels announced on Friday that superstar Mike Trout underwent successful surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. It’s his second time through this operation during the 2024 season and he is expected to miss the remainder of the campaign rehabbing the injury.
Trout initially suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee on April 29. He had the choice to either rehab his injury or undergo surgery back then, and opted for the latter. He had a successful operation on May 3 and began the rehab process from there.
It was a slow process that didn’t see him make any significant strides for nearly three months. On July 23, the Angels and Trout finally felt he had made enough progress to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Salt Lake. The plan was for him to play five innings in his first start and move forward from there.
But he was removed early — after two innings — with soreness in his left knee. The next day, he was sent home from Salt Lake to undergo further testing. While initial MRIs came back clean, later tests revealed another tear in his left meniscus on Aug. 1. The discovery ended Trout’s season.
The second torn meniscus was a brutal blow for Trout, who played a career-low 29 games in 2024. It was another in a long list of season-ending injuries suffered by the all-time great, as he has now played in a total of 266 games over the last four seasons. That is only 41.0% of possible games in that time frame.
The Angels will move forward with a 2024 campaign focused heavily on their youth cornerstones and hope that Trout’s return next season can bring them some more success, along with a slightly replenished farm system.
Trout is expected to be healthy and ready to go by the start of Spring Training in 2025.
Angels’ Christian Moore dominating in early minor league play
Angels’ 2024 first-round draft pick Christian Moore has made a name for himself early in his professional baseball career. After being selected No. 8 overall by the Angels, the second baseman was assigned to Class-A Inland Empire. He played two games at that level before the Angels decided to promote him to Double-A Rocket City, where he has been even more impressive.
In seven total minor league games — five with Double-A and two with Class-A — he is 17-for-31 (.548) with a 1.769 OPS. He has six home runs, 13 RBI and only four strikeouts.