LA Angels: Mike Trout’s injury-ravaged season looks like it’s over

Mike Trout’s calf injury looks like it’s about to go down in history as the world’s most frustrating calf strain of all time.

On Wednesday, it was reported by Ryan Herrera on angels.com that Joe Maddon said that he doesn’t expect him to play “anytime soon.”

He said this is “because there’s still that process of having to get at-bats.”

If Trout wants to come back, he’d have to get some at-bats in a rehab assignment, and the LA Angels are running out of time to get that done. The season is going to be over in just a couple of weeks. Since Maddon’s comments, there has been no positive news surrounding Trout’s injury.

Nearly everyone seems to be worried that Mike Trout will not be back for the LA Angels this year.

Every time I turn on any sports network, I see the bottom ticker talking about how it looks like Mike Trout won’t be back and playing for the LA Angels in 2021.

Even worse, I keep seeing these networks writing his stats from the year, pointing out just how dominant he was. I mean, the Angels’ franchise player was having the best year of his career.

Trout was hitting .333/.466/.624 with a 1.090 OPS. That batting average, that on-base percentage, and that OPS are all career-highs for Trout. Despite playing in just 36 games, Trout had still already hit 8 home runs, which would be the equivalent to 36 over the course of a 162-game season.

He also had scored 23 runs, which would be about 103 runs over the course of a 162-game season. This is the same guy who also hasn’t made an error in multiple seasons on defense.

He started the All-Star Game this year despite missing so much time. That’s just how dominant he was when he was on the diamond this season.

I officially hate calf strains. I can’t even imagine how it’s affected Trout mentally. According to Maddon, he’s still just as invested in this team as he is when he’s playing.

“The guy is so wanting to be out there,” said Maddon. “You watch him in the dugout every night, he’s on every pitch. He comes over, discusses things with me during the course of the game. He’s absolutely, totally engaged.”

At least Trout is getting these mental reps, but it’s natural for Angels fans to wonder what could have been as far as this season goes, and as far as what Trout’s performance was going to be. It’s difficult to say this, but I wouldn’t get any hopes up at all about him returning for the end of September.