5 Angels players that must step up with Shohei Ohtani headed to the Dodgers

Shohei Ohtani is gone. That's the unfortunate reality that the Los Angeles Angels are going to have to deal with. The team failed to field a winning team to surround him, so Ohtani took his talents to an already proven winner.

While Ohtani is destined to win in 2024, the Angels are certainly not. If they couldn't win with him, a two-time MVP in the last three seasons, what makes them think they can win without him?

The Angels will be active in both the free agency and the trade market as they attempt to build an improved ball club, but a lot of the work for this team to really get better has to be done by the players within. These five in particular really have to step up with Ohtani gone.

1) Mike Trout

Poor Mike Trout. He committed long-term to the Angels and ever since doing so has seen the franchise take steps back. Ohtani is now gone, leaving Trout with as subpar of a roster as he's ever had throughout his Angels career.

A big reason the Ohtani era didn't result in much winning has to do with injuries. The first half of it saw Ohtani miss substantial time due to injury, and he never put together a full season of two-way play until 2021. That same season is when Trout's injury issues really started to escalate. Injuries are nobody's fault, but they did undoubtedly play a huge role during Shohei's time in Anaheim.

Trout has played less than half the time in the last three seasons. It's very hard to win when your co-superstar is out more than he's on the field. He was limited to just 82 games last season. The Angels are going to need many more than that for the team to be successful.

In addition to Trout being healthy, he has to be productive. Sure, he was still an excellent hitter in 2023 (even if he didn't meet Trout's standards) but Trout especially struggled with runners in scoring position. He hit just .214 with a .716 OPS with RISP, playing a huge role in the overall struggles of the team. With Ohtani gone, it's on him to be the primary run producer. Can he fill that role?