ATLANTA — Mike Trout will not be returning to the Angels' lineup when he’s eligible to come off the injured list Monday.
Head athletic trainer Mike Frostad said Saturday that Trout had a cortisone injection in his back Thursday, so for now his activity is limited.
When asked how much more time Trout might need, Frostad said the Angels don’t know.
“We just have to take it day by day on how he’s feeling,” Frostad said. “There’s a little down period after you get a cortisone injection. We’re just going to let that take effect and then we’ll keep evaluating after that.”
Frostad said right now Trout can’t do any activities that involve rotation.
Frostad also clarified how an injury that was initially described as back spasms could become left rib cage inflammation. He said they are just different elements of the same injury.
“It all kind of goes together,” Frostad said. “The spasms occur because you’ve got the irritation in the back, in the rib cage. The muscles over top of that are trying to protect it. And that’s what caused those spasms. It all goes hand in hand.”
Trout said last week that he had begun feeling an issue in his back at the start of the month, and it became serious enough for him to come out of the game July 12. The Angels said he was day-to-day for a few days, and Trout actually was back in the lineup last Saturday. But he was scratched just minutes before the first pitch, and a couple days later the Angels placed him on the 10-day injured list.
Trout said at the All-Star Game earlier this week that he still doesn’t feel this is anything like last year’s calf injury, which ended up being much more serious than the initial expectation.
While Trout is out, Brandon Marsh will be the Angels’ center fielder.
Manager Phil Nevin said when Trout was only out for a few days, he wanted to keep Marsh in left, where he’s played well, but now that this is a “little bit more of an extended time with Mike,” he is putting Marsh in center because he’s the best outfielder.
