Mike Trout last played for the Angels on July 12, when he left a game against the Astros with what was then diagnosed as back spasms. According to team trainer Mike Frostad, the condition is actually something far rarer, though it is unclear how long it may keep the superstar outfielder out of the team’s lineup.
When the team put him on the injured list a week later, the team cited rib cage inflammation. Per The Orange County Register, Frostad says the two issues are connected, as the “muscle spasms around the inflammation to protect it,” calling the condition “costovertebral dysfunction at T5.”
“This is a pretty rare condition that he has right now in his back,” Frostad said. “[Dr. Robert Watkins], one of the most well-known spine surgeons in the country, if not the world, doesn’t see a lot of these. For it to happen in a baseball player, we just have to take into consideration what he puts himself through with hitting, swinging on a daily basis just to get prepared and then also playing in the outfield, diving for balls. Jumping into the wall, things like that. And there’s so many things that can aggravate it, but this doctor hasn’t seen a lot of it. And he’s one of the best in the country.”
Trout received a cortisone injection last week, the benefits of which Frostad says he is “just starting” to feel. He says it is too early to discuss shutting the former MVP down for the season, but admits that the condition could be a chronic one that has to be managed for the remainder of Trout’s career.
“Long-term, we do have to look at this as something that he has to manage not just through the rest of this season, but also through the rest of his career, probably,” Frostad said.
Trout, a three-time MVP and 10-time All-Star, is a generational talent. Unfortunately, injuries have started to take their toll on the soon-to-be 31-year-old.
After playing in at least 139 games from 2012 to ’16, Trout missed 39 games early in ’17 with a torn UCL in his thumb, placing him on the injured list for the first time in his career. He bounced back to play 140 and 134 games in ’18 and ’19, respectively, and played 53 games in the COVID-19-shortened ’20 season, but was limited to just 36 appearances in ’21 due to a torn calf muscle.
On the season, Trout is hitting .270/.368/.599 with 24 home runs and 51 RBIs for the 41–56 Angels.
