TEMPE, Ariz. ― Oh yes, you better believe Mike Trout saw it.
He stays off social media, but is well aware of the recent rankings from MLB Network that had him as only the 39th-best player in baseball.
He understood it, but you better believe it provided all the motivation he needed to prove everyone wrong once again this year.
‘Oh yeah, oh yeah …,’ he said, smiling. ‘Stuff like that fires you up a little bit.’
Trout realizes he has played only 111 games the past two years for the Los Angeles Angels, and hasn’t played more than 140 games since 2016. But still, he’s a three-time MVP, 11-time All-Star and a future Hall of Famer.
Follow every MLB game: Latest MLB scores, stats, schedules and standings.
‘They’re going off the last couple of years,’ Trout said Monday morning, ‘and I haven’t been there. So, that’s their ranking.
‘I know where I stand.’
Trout arrives into camp for his 15th season, and this time, as the Angels’ new right fielder.
Angels manager Ron Washington and GM Perry Minasian met privately with Trout on Sunday and informed him that he’s moving from center field to right field, and will also be used as a DH once a week.
Simply, the Angels believe that switching positions will provide a better chance for him to stay healthy.
‘He could play anywhere,’ Minasian said. ‘If we asked Mike Trout to play shortstop, he’d do it. He’s that kind of guy. For us, it’s just keeping him on the field. There’s no secret. He’s dying to play.
‘For us, taking the load off in center field is really important, and not having that responsibility. … In our situation, we think it’s best for the team.’
Trout, 33, has been the Angels’ everyday center fielder since 2014, and he hasn’t played right field since 2012, and only 17 games in his career.
Yet, if the move helps keep him healthy and is better for the team, he says he’s all for it.
Besides, if nine-time Gold Glove center fielder Torii Hunter can be asked by the Angels to move from center field to right field, who’s he to argue?
‘They threw everything on the table, what’s best for me body-wise, keep me on the field,’ Trout said. ‘Came to the conclusion that I’m going to go to right field. I’ll try it out, see where it goes.’
Former Angels manager Joe Maddon broached the idea two years ago of Trout moving out of center field, but he balked and remained in center until now.
‘I knew it was coming,’ Trout said. ‘I just got to get used to it. … Trying to preserve the legs and go out and there and run some balls down in right.’
Trout knows it certainly will be different playing right field but plans to talk to Hunter, a special assistant in the Angels’ organization, to collect his thoughts when he comes to camp. He also plans to speak to Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. this week. Griffey, a 10-time Gold Glove winner, moved from center field to right field in 2007 at the age of 37.
‘There’s a lot of guys that moved to right field that I’m going to talk to,’ Trout said. ‘Just see the difference and just go out there and get comfortable in the spring.’
Washington says he has no doubt Trout will easily be able to make the transition from center field to right, but wants to emphasize communication with the new center field tandem of Jo Adell and Mickey Moniak with Trout with balls hit into the right-center gap.
‘We don’t need nobody running into Mike Trout,’ Washington said, ‘so ya’ll better make certain that ya’ll understand when a ball is put in a certain area, somebody is going behind and somebody is going on front. The communication has to be constant to avoid collisions.
‘That’s what we pounded because we don’t want nobody running into Mike Trout because I don’t think Mike is going to run into them..’
Trout has endured an assortment of enough injuries during the past four years without adding a new one to his resume. Trout hit 10 home runs with 14 RBI in his first 29 games last year, stealing six bases, but then tore the meniscus in his left knee in late April, and suffered the same injury attempting to rehab in the minors.
It was just the latest injury-plagued season after playing in only 36 games in 2021 because of a calf injury, 119 games in 2022 because of a bad back and 82 games in 2023 with a fractured hand.
He came to camp lighter, saying he feels ‘more like myself,’ and won’t play any differently than in the past.
‘I’m not going to limit myself,’ Trout said. ‘I can still play the game hard. That’s the only way I know how to play. But just limit the overall beatdown and the wear and tear. …
‘That’s the biggest thing. You know, the last few years have been tough.’
Now, with less ground to cover in right field, more games as a DH, could lead to more games out of the trainer’s room.
‘I think trying to limit the crazy plays, and I think moving to right field helps a little bit,’ Trout said. ‘Center field, you’re running gap to gap. I think mixing in DH, just stuff like that, is going to be a see-how-I-feel thing. If I come in feeling something, or feeling sore, if I need a day off, it’s just open communication with Wash, the front office and the coaches, and I’m good with that.’
Trout still has six years and $212 million left on his contract, so he’s certainly not going anywhere. He remains the face of the franchise and has a full no-trade clause. If he ever again resembles the perennial MVP candidate that hit .308 with a 1.009 OPS, averaging 35 homers and 92 RBI a year from 2012-2019, maybe it could jump-start the Angels into contention. They have been to the postseason only once in Trout’s career.
If nothing else, a monster year could bring back the discussion whether the Angels would be better off trading him, using the savings to help them get back to being a power in the AL West.
That’s a discussion for another day.
For now, Trout is back, with a new position, and fired up to prove a whole lot of people wrong.
‘Oh yeah,’ he said.
Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale
