On Wednesday, Los Angeles Angels start Mike Trout will have surgery on his left thumb to repair a tear in the UCL and will likely miss up to eight weeks of action.
Trout injured the thumb while sliding at second base during an attempt to steal second Sunday afternoon. On Monday, Trout had an MRI that revealed the torn UCL and was put on the Angels disabled list.
This is the first time Trout has been placed on the DL in his career. A short time later, Trout, who is 25, decided to have surgery to repair the tear.
Andrelton Simmons a shortstop for the Angels had an injury last May that was very similar and also had surgery. Thanks to a medical innovation that recently became available known as the internal brace, Simmons beat the prognosis for his return and was playing after only five weeks.
Not having Trout in the lineup for a long period is a big blow to Los Angeles. The Angels already are missing Tyler Skaggs, Garrett Richards, Alex Meyer, Huston Street, Yunel Escobar, Andrew Bailey and Cam Bedrosian. All are currently out on the DL.
Los Angeles has managed to be competitive despite being hit hard by injuries, but the absence of Trout will be much more difficult to overcome.
The Angels are currently 26-28 following a loss on Monday and in the seven games this season Trout has missed are 3-4.
While still in second in the American League West, the Angels trail Houston by 11 games already with less than 50 games played.
Trout had his best start to his illustrious career with a batting average of .337, 16 home runs, 36 runs batted in and 10 stolen bases.
After Trout was officially placed on the team’s DL, Los Angeles brought up Eric Young Jr. from Salt Lake in Triple A. Young, who has a .354 batting average with Salt Lake over 44 games, started Monday night in left field. He had 1 hit in four at bats while stealing two bases.
Trout won last year’s American League MVP and his stats after just 47 games made him the odds on favorite to win another MVP title but that ended with is thumb injury.
