Mike Trout needs surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee and will be out indefinitely. Though the injury isn’t expected to be season-ending, his absence will derail what had been a hot start for the 32-year-old Los Angeles Angels star.
ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez and Jeff Passan first reported Trout’s impending surgery, which was later confirmed by Angels general manager Perry Minasian, per The Athletic’s Sam Blum. It’s a huge blow to the Angels as they attempt to build something in their post-Shohei Ohtani era.
Trout was attempting to bounce back from several injury-plagued seasons in 2024 and had gotten off to a blistering start in the power department. Last week, he became the first MLB player to reach 10 home runs in the 2024 season. His batting average (.220) and on-base percentage (.325) were lower than expected, but his batting average on balls in play is an abnormally low .194, which suggests some bad luck. Trout was slugging .541 and had already racked up 1.2 WAR.
The Angels have been terrible to open the season, and Trout’s injury isn’t going to help. They enter Tuesday 11–18 and already are five games back of the Seattle Mariners for first place in the American League West. As a team, the Angels currently rank 28th in ERA (5.01) and 18th in OPS (.691). A lack of pitching and a middling offense is not the way to find success.
Trout’s injury is a blow to his team and to Major League Baseball as a whole. The league is better when the three-time AL MVP is playing.
Major League Baseball announced on Tuesday that it will partner with the White House in efforts to reduce deaths from opioid overdoses, in part through an ad campaign this summer focused on drugs that can reverse overdoses, such as naloxone.
“I can't think of a more important public health issue than this particular one,” says Jon Coyles, MLB’s vice president of drug health and safety programs. He adds, “I think our experience and our focus on naloxone in our industry will hopefully, just because of the public facing nature of baseball, help with the public awareness and contribute to the national conversation on this.”
The White House announced last year its Challenge to Save Lives from Overdose initiative; as part of the push, it has asked schools, libraries, airlines and other workplaces to stock naloxone.
The winter after Skaggs died, the league and the union agreed to begin testing for drugs of abuse, with those who tested positive referred to medical professionals. Only players who decline treatment are subject to discipline. The league also began encouraging ballparks and trainers to carry naloxone, which can reverse an overdose if the patient receives it in time.
MLB administered some 12,000 drug tests to players last year, and Coyles says opioid use remains low among players. Still, the league is increasing efforts to reach out to their families and to fans, including by partnering with Song for Charlie, a nonprofit that attempts to raise awareness among people ages 13 to 24 about pills that unexpectedly include fentanyl, which is much more lethal at much smaller amounts than what users may think they are taking. The league plans to debut a campaign at the All-Star Game in July, geared toward fans.
As for players and staffers, in 2023 that ’19 recommendation became law. All major and minor league ballparks are required to store naloxone in clubhouses, weight rooms, dugouts and umpire dressing rooms, and all trainers keep the drug on their person at all times, including on flights and at hotels. As far as he knows, Coyles says, no one has ever needed it. If the other prongs of their approach work, they hope no one ever will.
New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto took it upon himself to answer Los Angeles Angels pitcher Patrick Sandoval's question for home plate umpire Edwin Moscoso during the top of the fourth inning of New York's 8–3 win on Thursday at Angel Stadium.
With the count at 2-and-1, Sandoval fired a four-seam fastball knee-high that landed at the bottom of the strike zone, a pitch that Moscoso ruled a ball. Sandoval inquired about the pitch, asking the umpire if it was low.
Only, the Angels hurler didn't get a reply from Moscoso, but from Soto, who proceeded to nod his head repeatedly, indicating he thought the offering was low.
Here's the amusing exchange.
Patrick Sandoval asked if the pitch was low and Juan Soto continuously nodded yes pic.twitter.com/QA1awnN6R6
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 31, 2024
Soto, who seemingly benefited from the generous call by Moscoso, went on to draw a walk before Yankees slugger Aaron Judge drove him in during the next at-bat on a two-run home run.
Soto, 25, has posted a .312/.415/.584 slash line with 15 home runs, 49 RBI and 41 runs scored in 58 games played for the Yankees this season.
Welcome to the Rookie Roundup, a weekly look-in on baseball’s best and most interesting first-year players. Last week, we checked in on under-the-radar rookie pitchers in the National League. This week, we’ll take a peek at American League squads currently floundering in last place in their respective divisions, and which rookies are providing the most hope for better tomorrows.
We’re now two months into the season, and by week’s end every team will have fewer than 100 games remaining on the schedule. That’s certainly more than enough time for fortunes to shift dramatically in the standings. But for a select few particularly dismal clubs, the writing is on the wall: 2024 just might not be their year.
For our basement-dwelling teams in the American League, now’s as good a time as any to start searching for silver linings. Let’s take a look at one rookie on each of the four last-place teams (we have a tie in the AL East) that’s providing reasons for optimism—maybe not for this year, but for the summers ahead, when hopefully the outlook is rosier than it is today.
All stats are updated through Sunday’s games.
Top rookie: Bryan Ramos, 3B
Ramos made his major league debut on May 4, and though he scuffled in his first taste of The Show (and has since been optioned back to the minors), the fact that he reached the big leagues at just 22 years old is reason to be hopeful in what’s been a truly terrible season for the South Siders.
Ramos is an all-around player who projects to be good in most areas but maybe lacks the high ceiling of the game’s blue-chip prospects. He posted an .826 OPS at Double A in 2023 and had six hits in four games since being optioned to Triple A last week. He’ll almost certainly be back with the big-league club at some point this season given that the White Sox are on pace to lose over 120 games.
Top rookie: Rafael Soriano, RHP
Chicago’s historically abysmal start has overshadowed what’s been a miserable season for the Angels. Mike Trout hasn’t played since April 29 and will likely miss at least a couple more months, and the team sits in last place behind an Oakland A’s team that many expected to be among baseball’s worst.
Soriano walks off the field after the final out of the first inning against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park. / Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports
Los Angeles has several rookies on the active roster, in no small part because of the organization’s woeful lack of depth necessitating quick promotions. As a result, players like Nolan Schanuel and Kyren Paris have struggled, though Soriano has provided a bright spot in the rotation. After originally signing with the Angels in 2016 at 17 years old, Soriano underwent two Tommy John surgeries during his minor league career before debuting in ‘23. He showed promise as a relief pitcher and has made the move to the rotation this season. Across 10 starts, Soriano has posted a 3.78 ERA with 51 strikeouts. His transition as a starter is beginning to pay off from a durability standpoint, as he’s logged at least six innings in each of his last three outings.
Top rookie: Curtis Mead, 2B/3B
The typically development-savvy Rays have fallen on hard times to begin 2024, posting the fourth-worst run differential (minus-53) in the American League. As such, there aren’t many impact rookies to choose from: outfielder Jonny DeLuca—currently batting .182—is the only rookie hitter on the roster, while Tampa Bay has had only 7 2/3 innings logged by rookie pitchers on the season.
Given that context, we’ll go with Mead as the Rays’ best source of hope. The 23-year-old posted a .900 OPS at Triple A last year to earn his first call-up, hitting a .253/.326/.349 across 24 games—not spectacular, but serviceable enough to earn himself a pair of starts in Tampa Bay’s two playoff games last October. He made the team’s Opening Day roster and struggled to find a groove at the plate, and the Rays optioned him to Triple A on May 6.
Since the demotion, Mead has picked things back up, posting a .262/.340/.459 slash line in 23 games. Given the commendable production from Isaac Paredes, Richie Palacios and Amed Rosario, it might take some attrition for Mead to get another shot at regular playing time. But continued improvement in the minor leagues would be encouraging for a player who seems to have a high ceiling.
Top rookie: Davis Schneider, 2B/OF
Schneider quickly became one of the best feel-good stories of the 2023 season in his brief big-league debut, and he hasn’t slowed down in ‘24.
Selected by the Blue Jays in the 28th round of the 2017 draft, Schneider wowed in a 35-game stint last year, posting a .276/.404/.603 slash line. He’s provided Toronto with strong production this season (134 OPS+) even after his BABIP has regressed from the unsustainable .369 it was in ‘23 to a more stabilized .305 this year. Schneider still strikes out a lot, but his 12.2% walk rate ranks among the league’s highest. The longer he maintains his current production, the more he’ll prove that last season’s breakout wasn’t just a flash in the pan.
