Angels All-Star OF Mike Trout diagnosed with rare back condition that could be factor rest of career

Trout’s injury was first diagnosed as back spasms when he exited the team’s contest early on July 12. One week later, the Angels placed him on the 10-day injured list due to “left rib cage inflammation.”

On Saturday, it was reported that the 10-time All-Star wouldn’t be activated off of the IL when first eligible and according to multiple reports, his rest-of-season outlook seems dicey at best.

“This is a pretty rare condition that he has right now in his back” Los Angeles trainer Mike Frostad said, per Angels beat writer Jeff Fletcher. “(Dr. Robert Watkins), one of the most well-known spine surgeons in the country, if not the world, doesn’t see a lot of these. For it to happen in a baseball player, we just have to take into consideration what he puts himself through with hitting, swinging on a daily basis just to get prepared and then also playing in the outfield, diving for balls. Jumping into the wall, things like that. And there’s so many things that can aggravate it, but this doctor hasn’t seen a lot of it. And he’s one of the best in the country.”

Fletcher further reported that the team has to keep Trout’s future beyond this season in mind when handling the injury.

“Long-term, we do have to look at this as something that he has to manage not just through the rest of this season, but also through the rest of his career, probably,” Fletcher wrote.

While the 30-year-old slugger has collected 24 home runs and 51 RBIs through just 79 games in 2022, his slash line of .270/.368/.599 has been below his career norms.