Mike Trout opens up on his plans to staying healthy in 2024.
As Mike Trout is set to enter his 13th season with the Los Angeles Angels, it appears that the 32-year-old center fielder is ready to be a full go this season, as he is planning to play the 2024 season with no limitations. At this moment, the plan is to remain the team’s everyday starting everyday center fielder.
In this week’s episode of the Angels Recap Podcast with Trent Rush, Trout joined Rush on the show and discussed a variety of topics including the departure of two-time American League MVP Shohei Ohtani, the emergence of newly hired manager Ron Washington, and his plans on staying healthy this season.
Over the last three seasons, Trout has missed significant time due to injury. During that stretch, Trout has appeared in 237 games out of 486, playing in just 48.8% of games.
Despite missing this much time, Trout did admit that there have been times throughout his career when he might’ve rushed back from injury too soon, resulting in him missing even more time. That said, he still plans to treat this season like any other.
““I’m gonna go out there and play. No limitations.” Said Trout. “I’m not saying I’m gonna go out there and steal 40 bags again, but I might get 20… Just go out there play free, play my game.”
With Trout planning to play the 2024 season with no limitations, he did state that there will be times when he might take an ocassional game off for extra rest, as he is coming into his age 32 season.
As of now, the Angels’ outfield appears to be set in stone, with Taylor Ward starting in left and recently acquired free agent Aaron Hicks starting in right. Both Jo Adell and Mickey Moniak will also be part of the outfield’s depth chart and will likely platoon around, depending on whether a right-handed pitcher or left-handed pitcher is out on the mound.
With the Angels building plenty of depth around Trout, the need for him to stay healthy is as high as ever for the three-time AL MVP, as not only are the Angels playing baseball without Ohtani for the first time in six years, but they are also looking to avoid missing playoffs once again for the 10th straight season.
To make matters worse, Trout has only been in the postseason once in his career, and during that time, he went 1-for-12 against the Kansas City Royals in 2014.
