Angels GM gives major update on Mike Trout

Die-hard followers of the Halos who care about nostalgia will likely welcome the announcement from Minasian.

While Ohtani has catapulted himself into all-time franchise great territory with his trio of All-Star honors, two AL MVPs, two Silver Sluggers and a Rookie of the Year Award in just six seasons, Mike Trout has been the face of the Angels for more than a decade.

The outfielder was selected by Los Angeles in the first round of the 2009 MLB June Amateur Draft and quickly ascended through the minors to make his big-league debut in July 2011. During his future Hall of Fame career, Trout has made 11 All-Star teams and racked up nine Silver Slugger awards, three AL MVPs and a Rookie of the Year honor.

The 32-year-old helped lead the team to their only playoff berth in the last 14 years in 2014, though the Angels were swept out of that year's ALDS by the Kansas City Royals.

There are some fans in southern California, however, who might point to Trout's age and decreased durability in recent years as reasons to trade the New Jersey native. He's almost certainly on the back half of his career, but when healthy has still shown himself to be an elite player. He could still fetch a huge return.

Trout made his third straight All-Star team in 2023 and finished with 18 home runs and 44 RBI across just 308 at-bats covering 82 games. Trout's power was clearly still there, but his .263/.367/.490 slash line was the worst of his career, not counting his 40-game debut in 2011.

Since playing in at least 134 games in seven of eight seasons from 2012-19, the two-time All-Star Game MVP hasn't reached that mark in the last four campaigns. Following the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Trout suited up for a career-low 36 games in 2021 (calf injury), then 119 in 2022 (back) and only 82 in 2023 (hand).