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Angels’ Mike Trout diagnosed with left wrist fracture

July 4, 2023

SAN DIEGO — Mike Trout fractured the hamate bone in his left wrist on Monday night, the Angels announced on Tuesday. The injury typically costs a player four to eight weeks.

The Angels’ star suffered the injury on a swing in the eighth inning of a loss to the Padres.

As the three-time MVP spoke to reporters while he awaited the test results on Monday, he was distraught at the prospect of another injury.

“Just praying the results come back clean,” he said. “It doesn’t feel great.”

It turned out to be an injury that is fairly common among baseball players. Normally it occurs during a swing, when the knob of the bat presses against the bone at the base of the hand by the wrist. The bone is typically removed during surgery, and a player can return to action once the surgical wounds have healed and strength is restored.

Boston Red Sox infielder Yu Chang suffered a fractured hamate on April 24. He began a rehab assignment about a month later, but felt some discomfort and needed another month. He is currently on another rehab assignment.

Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco was out two months with a fractured hamate last year.

Last year, Andrew Benintendi broke his hamate on Sept. 2 and had surgery on Sept. 6, and he did not make it back with the Yankees, who were eliminated from the postseason on Oct. 23.

In 2019, Cleveland’s José Ramirez missed just four weeks with a broken hamate.

The Angels recalled Jo Adell from Triple-A to replace Trout on the active roster. Adell was hitting .271 with 23 homers — most in the minors — and a .956 OPS.

For Trout, this marks the third straight year that he’s missing a chunk of the season with a significant injury. He suffered a strained calf in May 2021, costing him the rest of the season. Last July he hurt his back, missing five weeks.

The Angels had been proactive in trying to prevent soft-tissue injuries with Trout by giving him regular days off. He had been out of the lineup eight times in the Angels’ first 87 games, with a plan to reduce those days off as the schedule provided more off days in the second half. Trout last played more than 140 games in 2016.

This injury, a broken bone, was seemingly not preventable with rest, though.

The recent of run of injuries will cost Trout another opportunity to play in the All-Star Game. Although he was elected as the starter for the 10th time, this will be the fourth time that he’s unable to play. He missed the game in 2017, 2021 and 2022 because of injuries. With the 2020 All-Star Game canceled because of the pandemic, Trout has not played in the All-Star Game since 2019.

The bigger concern is the impact on the Angels’ season.

The Angels are 45-42, six games back in the American League West and three games back in the wild card race. Although they were on a hot streak early in June that vaulted them into the thick of the race, they’ve lost nine of their last 13 games.

Trout had been in a slump, by his standard, for much of the season, but he said he was starting to feel better over the previous couple weeks. He hit .340 with four homers and an OPS of 1.121 in his last 14 games.

For the season, Trout is hitting .263 with 18 homers and an .863 OPS.

Trout joins second baseman Brandon Drury, shortstop Zach Neto and catcher Logan O’Hoppe among the Angels’ everyday players on the injured list. The Angels are hoping to get Drury and Neto back just after the All-Star break. O’Hoppe could be back in late August, at the earliest. Third baseman Anthony Rendon has been on the injured list twice, but he’s healthy now. They have already lost Gio Urshela for the season.

“We’ve talked all along about our depth and it’s been tested,” Nevin said on Monday night, before Trout’s diagnosis was known. “We’ve been adding to that. We’ve lost some big pieces to this. We’ve talked about having the next guy up. Same thing in this case.”

In other news, the Angels optioned right-hander Victor Mederos to Triple-A and recalled right-hander Gerardo Reyes.

More to come on this story.

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