The Los Angeles Angels had arguably the worst injury luck in all of baseball last season, and that’s been a common theme in recent years with this franchise.
Not only has the franchise’s best players struggled to stay on the field, but several of the role players without extensive injury histories missed substantial time last season, and a lot of the injuries appeared to be very unlucky.
It’s hard to expect players to play in 162 games nowadays, but the Angels are going to need much better injury luck if they want to sniff contention for a playoff spot in 2024. These three players enter the year as the biggest injury risks.
1) Anthony Rendon
You knew he’d be here. Anthony Rendon had a bit of an injury-riddled start to his MLB career, but then proceeded to play in at least 135 games in each of his last four seasons with the Nationals. He shed the injury prone label and was able to play in a vast majority of his team’s games leading them to an eventual World Series win in 2019.
Since signing with the Angels, the injuries have returned with a fury. Rendon only missed eight games in his first season with the Angels, but that was in the shortened 60-game season. Since then, it’s been an absolute disaster.
Rendon has appeared in a whopping 148 of the possible 486 games in the last three seasons combined. In other words, 30.4% of the Angels possible games. He has not appeared in 60 games in a single season as an Angel, let alone 160. To make matters worse, his total has declined in each of the last three years with Rendon appearing in just 43 games in 2023.
Expecting the 33-year-old to be healthy at this point is asking for trouble. The Angels must sign someone to take his place for if/when he lands on the IL once again. It’s very hard to win games when the highest-paid player rarely plays, but that’s the situation the Angels are in.
2) Mike Trout
Another one you knew would be on a list like this is Mike Trout. The greatest player in franchise history appeared in at least 114 games in each of his first eight full seasons, but has been bitten hard by the injury bug of late, and at age 32 it’s hard to predict Trout going through a full season without at least one IL stint.
Last season, Trout actually stayed remarkably healthy through the first half of the season. While he wasn’t performing at the MVP level that Angels fans had been accustomed to, Trout’s presence still meant a lot for a team trying to claw their way into the postseason.
Unfortunately, a hamate fracture forced Trout to head to the IL, and he’d never quite recover in time to finish out the season. He came back for one game while the Angels were gasping for their last breath, but did not look healthy in the slightest and went right back onto the IL.
With Shohei Ohtani gone, the Angels hope that added DH at-bats for Trout will help him stay on the field. While fewer games in center field should help with wear and tear, that would not have prevented the injury which occurred last season on a swing.
Especially with Ohtani gone, the Angels need Trout more than ever if they want to be a respectable team in 2024. While it’s pretty reasonable to expect him to appear in more than 82 games, expecting Trout to last the whole season pain free would be naive. He’s appeared in a more respectable 48.7% of his team’s games in the last three seasons, but that’s still not close to ideal.
3) Ben Joyce
Ben Joyce is not only the pitcher Angels fans are excited to watch the most, but he’s one of the more exciting pitchers to watch in all of baseball. Anyone who can reach triple digits with the kind of movement Joyce has is fun to watch, especially when he can locate.
What comes with throwing so hard is an obvious concern with any pitcher’s elbow, and with Joyce in particular, the Angels have reason to be concerned. In fact, Joyce missed substantial time last season with an arm injury which limited him to just 28 total appearances out of the bullpen (12 for the Angels).
Barring another big addition to the bullpen, Joyce will be relied upon as a late-game reliever. He won’t be the closer or the primary set-up man from the start, but he’ll be pitching in big innings alongside Jose Soriano, especially on days that don’t see both Carlos Estevez and Robert Stephenson available.
Additionally, eventually, the Angels are going to have to use the right-hander on consecutive days. While he’s pitched with one day off in between, he has yet to pitch on consecutive days in his career. For this bullpen to be successful, that has to change. While it’s a needed development for any reliever, that does come with additional injury concerns.
Joyce throws incredibly hard which does a ton of damage to an arm as is, and there’s a good chance he’ll throw more innings in 2024 than he ever has. Angels fans hope Joyce stays healthy and looks like the dominant force they expect, but there’s definitely some concern.
