SAN DIEGO — All-Star outfielder Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels said he anticipates returning this season despite a broken left wrist suffered when he fouled off a pitch Monday night.
“Of course,” Trout said Tuesday, a few hours after the Angels announced he was placed on the 10-day injured list with broken hamate.
“I’ve had other guys reach out who’ve had this surgery before, or had this injury before. I don’t know if it’s going to need surgery or not. We’ll know in the next couple of days, I guess. Some guys came back in four weeks, some guys take a little longer just to see how their body heals.”
The slugger fouled off a 0-1 pitch from Nick Martinez leading off the eighth inning and immediately shook his left arm. Angels manager Phil Nevin and a trainer came out to check on the slugger and he left the game.
“I kind of knew it wasn’t good. It’s another freak thing,” Trout said. “It’s nothing crazy serious, so obviously I’m going to miss a little bit of time, but it’s not season-ending.”
Trout, a three-time AL MVP, was selected to his 11th All-Star team on Sunday and 10th straight as a starter. He was hitting .263 with 18 home runs and 44 RBIs.
Trout said he had been feeling well before the injury and that it’s going to be tough to miss the All-Star Game.
“I was really looking forward to it,” he said. “It’s frustrating.”
Nevin said the team was going to get one more medical opinion on Trout’s wrist, “but usually these things need to be fixed. To be quite honest, when I went out there, I kind of had an idea. I’ve had players before that have done this, the feelings he had.
“When you feel something go or anything like that, you worry about a lot of things, but thankfully it’s a bone,” Nevin said. “It’s not a ligament or anything like that. Guys have come back from this and did fine and played. Mike will be back with us at some point this year. I know he’s hungry. I also know he’s hurting, too. It’s tough to see.”
Nevin said Mickey Moniak and Jo Adell will fill in for Trout in center field. Adell was recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake, along with right-hander Gerardo Reyes. Moniak started Tuesday against Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove. Moniak grew up in northern San Diego County and was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 amateur draft, by Philadelphia.
“Today Mickey’s out there and he’s certainly been the guy who’s gone out there when Mike’s gone down before,” Nevin said. “I think somebody joked that I’ve given Mike six days off this year and we’ve won all six games, so we shouldn’t be so upset right now.”
Nevin said he spoke with players and the coaching staff to reassure them that the Angels are still in good shape. They’re three games above .500 and in third place in the AL West, six games behind the Texas Rangers and three games out of the third wild-card spot.
Nevin said he doesn’t want two-way star Shohei Ohtani, who leads the majors with 31 homes, “to try to do too much. Obviously everybody’s like, ‘Well you’ve still got Shohei.’ He’s going to get his pitches to hit. You can’t walk him every time. He’s going to go up and take quality at-bats and not try to do too much.”
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