KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mike Trout may need at least another week for his cortisone injection to take effect before he can grow up and resume baseball activity.
But there remains long-term uncertainty about when he can return and the severity of a back injury that could factor into the rest of his baseball career.
While the Angels outfielder is feeling better, the timetable for his return is unclear as he deals with chest inflammation that is causing back pain.
“I think we have to have some concern about that,” head athletic trainer Mike Frostad said when asked if Trout was out for a long time. “… He’s a little more upbeat today. And I think he’s starting to feel like he’s getting the benefits.
“But long-term, we have to look at it as something that — he has to manage it, not just for the rest of the season, but probably for the rest of his career.”
Trout left the Angels game on July 12 with back spasms. He spent the next four days optimistic that his return would be imminent. He was even in the lineup on July 16 before the last-minute scratch.
He was placed on the injured list on July 18 and received a cortisone shot that could take two weeks to work. Trout has not started baseball activities, but has started a basic stability program and has been doing cardio.
Frostad was asked why the considerable optimism earlier this month about a quick return has now led to a condition – T5 costovertebral dysfunction – where there is more concern.
“It’s a pretty rare condition that he has right now on his back,” Frostad said. “The doctor (Robert Watkins), who is one of the best-known spine surgeons in the country, if not the world, doesn’t see a lot of them.
“And for that to happen in a baseball player, we just have to take into account what he’s going through with hitting, swinging every day, just preparing. And then also played in the outfield. … There are so many things that can make it worse. But this doctor hasn’t seen much of it.
Trout will have a follow-up meeting with Watkins when the team returns to Anaheim. Frostad said the best way to gauge whether his chest inflammation is going down is based on how Trout feels and what he reports to doctors and trainers.
Asked if there was a chance he wouldn’t play again this season, Frostad said, “We hope not. I don’t think we’re at that stage where we’re going to make that decision.
Trout was with the team in Atlanta and Kansas City. Having missed the final three and a half months of last season with a lingering injury, the hope is that history will not repeat itself in 2022.
“He’s moving better than I’ve seen,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “But yes, it can be a slow process. We are not sure if it will be able to start gaining momentum. It will just depend on how he feels.”
(Top photo: Brett Davis/USA Today)
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