After injury-shortened 2021 seasons, two of the Angels’ biggest stars are healthy. Mike Trout’s agent Craig Landis tells Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times that Trout is “100 percent” ready to fully participate in spring training activities whenever the lockout ends, while a source familiar with Anthony Rendon’s recovery says the third baseman is also a “full-go” in the wake of surgery to correct a hip impingement.
Trout and Rendon combined for 84 games in 2021 and were in the same starting lineup together only 19 times. Trout was at least still his superstar-level self before suffering a season-ending right calf strain on May 17, hitting .333/.466/.624 with eight home runs over what ended up being his only 146 plate appearances. For Rendon, a series of nagging problems sent him to the injured list on multiple occasions and limited his production to only a .240/.329/.382 slash line over 249 trips to the plate.
The majority of Rendon’s injuries are related to his left leg, but it was actually a right hip problem stemming from his rehab for a left hamstring injury that finally ended his season in August. Rendon said during a radio interview in November that the timing of the surgery was intended so he could head into spring training with a clean bill of health, and that now appears to be the case, even if the lockout has delayed the entirety of the normal baseball calendar.
Trout’s calf strain was a source of constant frustration for the former MVP, the Angels, and baseball fans as a whole, as the outfielder was seemingly close to a return on multiple occasions except his calf never stopped feeling sore after Trout took part in baseball-related activities. Trout and the team held out hope until September before officially shutting things down, again with an eye toward an early start on getting Trout fully healthy for the 2022 season.
Needless to say, the returns of Trout and Rendon in full health and with their usual levels of production could give the Angels one of the league’s most dangerous lineups. Of course, pitching has long been the Angels’ biggest obstacle, but the team has re-signed closer Raisel Iglesias and also added Noah Syndergaard and Michael Lorenzen to the rotation mix, not to mention what other moves could be in store once the transactions freeze is lifted.
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