It appears Mike Trout is set to return to his old position. The future Hall of Famer told reporters this morning that he hopes to be primarily a center fielder this season (links via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com and Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register). General manager Perry Minasian and skipper Kurt Suzuki are evidently aligned with that plan.
“I talked to (Suzuki). I definitely want to play center,” the three-time MVP said. “I told him I’ll play anywhere but obviously prefer center. It was good communication with him and Perry and they’re on board with it.” Suzuki said that Trout will also continue to see work in the corners during Spring Training but sounded broadly open to giving him significant playing time up the middle. “We’ll keep our options open, but he does prefer center, so we’ll take a look,” the manager told reporters.
It’s not completely out of nowhere, as Minasian said as far back as December that the team wasn’t closing the door on Trout getting some center field action. It seems that’ll be more than just part-time work, though it’s not clear how much of a defensive workload he’ll be able to log in his age-34 season.
That was the impetus for moving Trout off center field a year ago. The Angels felt the position was putting too much physical stress and contributing to his unfortunate series of injuries. Trout didn’t play a single inning up the middle last season. He moved to right field and started 22 games before sustaining a bone bruise in his left knee. He missed most of May and was a full-time designated hitter for the remainder of the season.
Trout disagreed with the premise that right field was any less of a physical burden. “Honestly, I felt like when I was in center, it was less on my body,” he said today. “Right field felt like I was running a lot. It’s just a preference thing. Talking to some other outfielders, they feel the same way sometimes, that center is less on your legs. I just feel more confident in center.” Although Trout didn’t have a huge sample of right field work off which to base that assessment, it’s hardly surprising he feels more comfortable with his reads at a position where he has more than 11,000 innings of experience.
At his age and with a history of lower body injuries, Trout is unlikely to be a plus defensive center fielder. He remains a slightly above-average runner at full speed, so he could probably play close to average defense. That’d be a marked improvement over Jo Adell, who was one of the worst defensive center fielders in MLB and should be a right fielder. Whether Trout can stay healthy is the much bigger question, though it’s perhaps notable that many of his recent injuries have come either as a hitter or while running the bases.
Playing Trout in center would allow the Halos to use Adell and Josh Lowe primarily in the corners. They’d have Jorge Soler mostly in the DH role. Trout will surely still see a fair bit of DH action as semi-rest days. Soler would draw into a corner on those occasions with either Adell or Lowe moving to center in what would be a lackluster defensive group. Bryce Teodosio is the best defensive outfielder on the roster but has hit like a fifth outfielder. Jose Siri is in camp on a minor league deal as an alternative to Teodosio for an all-glove depth role. Prospect Nelson Rada is likely ticketed for Triple-A to begin the season but might be the team’s best all-around center field option by midseason.
Trout has five seasons remaining on his $360MM extension. He’ll make $35.45MM per season between 2026-30.
Good, He’s the only CF they have and most players hit better when they are not DHing.
Hopefully he is hurt by May an on the IL for the year
Hopefully?
Comment flagged Sir. Are you thinking like a party animal?
I am no Mike Trout fan but wishing for him to be injured is absurd.
lol isn’t* hahah
What is wrong with you?
Huge typo and it won’t let me edit the comment unfortunately. I love Trout and I don’t think him playing center field is a smart move at all. I want him on the field as much as possible and I don’t think him playing in center is going to help that at all. My bad again on that typo.
He could play five more years if he was smart and willing to play LF and DH. But ego and smart don’t always go hand in hand..
Huh? Trout is one of the most humble guys in baseball.
I mean there is at least some logic to him knowing how to play cf better than rf. If he’s getting poor reads and having to try to make up for it that could lead to injury. Though he should probably just play first at this point…
@halo11fan. Looks like trumbo was right, but he was saying it before they added siri, and lowe. They might even bump soler out of the lineup to put trout there. Maybe lowe plays first to give schanuel some rest days.
Getting his way because Zuk is a rookie manager. HA
Trout back to CF for the 40 games he is healthy this season.
@skip’s. Thinking the same siri in center, and lowe in left in a couple months. Grissom to third when moancada gets hurt. Canderlario to DH when soler goes down. I guess its a bunch of lotto tickets, but its really not that bad. Its better than sano, calhoun, Duffy, jd Davis, and the 60 other turds I forgot about.
I would say and I prefer to date Sydney Sweeney. But she’s mid.
Totally mid
Always looked el choppo to me. She ain’t no Bella Ramsey that’s for sure.
@el_chapo_
She’s a 1. Plenty of 1s nowadays, thanks to them showing their true personality.
This joke has been made ad nauseum.
I prefer to be Raul Julia during the filming of street fighter while eating out 80/90’s Elvira from behind.
I want to hear more of your timeless wisdom.
Just let your mind paint a picture of you dressed as M.Bison while those sweet sweater cannons bounce in your face.
I wonder if RF felt more physically demanding simply due to age/injuries, im very interested to hear his thoughts after this season if hes in CF full time
He’s been getting hurt no matter what they’ve tried so might as well throw him out there.
Not like its going to cost them a playoff spot
Have they tried him full time at DH for more than a couple of weeks?
@baseball77. He doesn’t like playing DH. Last year was the only year he agreed to move off of center.
RF felt less warish.
There signing trading for old washed up. Passing on the best players in the draft that are obvious must pick. Let Trout play SS if he wants. Let him gm and manage. It really doesn’t matter.
RF may have felt more demanding because Trout was in right all year with a complete butcher in Adell playing CF.
How many fly balls and liners to right-center that Trout had to chase last year would have been easy outs with a defensive-minded CF playing instead of Adell?
I trust the Angels to make the wrong decision here.
Not falling for it. Trick question. There is no wrong decision.
I didn’t ask a question.
Trout going to have a big year! Center fielder for the All star game
Needed him there for Team usa though!
The entire Angel outfield is unlikely to be a plus defensive outfield.
Honestly I don’t think Angels care what position he plays. They just want him on the field more often.
The problem is that when he plays in the field, he doesn’t stay healthy.
He seldom gets hurt playing the field. He gets hurt Swinging the Bat and running the bases.
The Angels Stadium outfield is huge. One of the only (former) multi-use stadiums around. It’s a lot of ground to cover. I’m good with him being DH if they can get a whole year worth of swings out of him.
Angels Stadium was converted back to baseball only dimensions long ago so it can no longer be considered a multi-use facility.
Thus (former)
Skydome was the same for a long time.
Size of Angels outfield…21st.
Yeah but like 90% of that is center.
I think Trout should play where he wants to play if he’s feeling good. He has earned the ability to dictate and he knows he’s the best option they have there. He is right that moving him to the corner didn’t keep him any healthier. We don’t have another CF option. Adell is a joke on offense and defense. Everyone else is AAA caliber at best. Let Trout play CF until he can’t.
Adell hit 37 HR and was 11 percent better than league average last year. Not a star, but certainly not joke numbers. His defense is suspect, but last year was a step forward. For a team without a lot to look forward too, I’d think y’all would want to see him build on that, as overhyped as he was (which wasn’t his fault either btw) And I’m sorry man, but saying a player as injury prone as Mike Trout, has “earned the ability to dictate” where he plays, is a pretty wild take. They pay that guy tons every year, and it doesn’t serve anyone for him to play 92 games and miss 3 months. I’m a Mike Trout fan. He’s great for baseball….when he’s healthy. Playing CF is super reckless, so I’m sure he’ll be out there. Fingers crossed man.
Good. Why waste your life playing a subpar and often useless position like DH or a corner position in the outfield.
The Angels are a basket case. Huge market, huge payroll ability, MVP’s, great name, yet can’t make the playoffs since 2014 and have arguably the weakest farm system to show for it.
Starts at the top. Bottom 5 front office. Terrible owner. They draft horribly. Anthony Rendon. I mean, they aren’t the Rockies, but they kind of are the Rockies.
Say it isn’t so Mike. Angels fans want you at the plate more than the 55 games you averaged in 2023-2024 when you were still playing CF.
If Trout wants to catch, he should because it’s not likely to make a difference in the year-end team results.
I suppose that makes sense for now but I’d move him to DH as soon as they find a capable CF and move Soler off the team entirely unless he comes out the gate on fire. Sometimes you have to protect a player from themselves whether they like it or not.
I think it’s great that he wants to play there given they have no one better to do so. I will always pull for Trout…
Dale Murphy used to be on Braves games a few times a year, and he swore , that at least for him, playing CF was easier, than the other OF positions…. not every guy can’t continue to play the outfield once they hit 30. Guessing if Clemente was playing today, no way would he be allowed to play RF at 37
He also prefers to get paid this year. No more 25 games in CF and then back to your McMansion. Time to DH.
He’s obviously a hall of famer but this kind of crap is a part of the reason hes never been on a playoff team. He can’t play CF anymore. Selfishness wins over I guess
I want to see at least a resemblance of the younger Trout, 30+ Hr 300BA
and a 153 games or more.
This team is all Scioscia’s fault…
No wait, Buzzie Bavasi…?
Mike Trout, the forgotten Hall of Famer
Please don’t let this happen. I hate how much of his career has already been lost to injury. I have no real feeling about the Angels as a whole, but I just want the guy to get back to being the monster that he was with the bat (even if it’s unrealistic to expect to see what he did a decade ago again.)