Trout undergoes MRI exam and the results are clean
OAKLAND — When the Angels traveled to the Bay Area on Sunday evening, Mike Trout stayed in Orange County at the team’s request to undergo an MRI examination on his tight left hamstring. After the results came back clean, he traveled north Monday to meet his teammates.
General manager Billy Eppler said the examination was arranged “in order to have a thumbprint moving forward,” so the team could compare images later.
“You never want to take an MRI. Hearing the news, though, relieves me a little bit,” Trout said. “It made me comfortable knowing. It just cleared my mind a little bit.”
For the fourth time in five days, Trout did not start the Angels’ game Monday night, and he said he was unavailable to enter the game as a reserve.
Without Trout, the Angels had lost two of three entering Monday night. He first sat out Thursday’s series finale in Seattle because of tightness within the hamstring, then aggravated the injury chasing down a George Springer drive to begin Friday's sixth inning in Anaheim. He had been shading Springer to the right, so catching his liner to left-center field represented a significant effort outlay.
Still, he completed that game and was in Saturday’s lineup until minutes before first pitch.
Trout has so far evaded serious injury during his eight years playing professional baseball. He never has been placed on the disabled list and has missed only 19 starts since he was last called up in 2012. He sat out three games because of a tight hamstring two years ago.
The Angels continue to discuss the viability of placing Trout on the 10-day disabled list. They plan to make a decision, either way, soon.
“If he’s gonna be ready in five days, we don’t want him sitting around for five days,” manager Mike Scioscia said.
Scioscia noted baseball’s new 10-day DL allows stints to be backdated by only three days. Until this season, players could be placed on the 15-day DL retroactive by 10 days. Now, Trout would have to miss at least one week if he went on the DL.
“They obviously want to be cautious,” Trout said of the team. “It’s a hamstring. You don’t want to push it and be out longer.”
Short hops
The Angels signed right-hander Troy Rallings, the former University of Washington closer, as an undrafted free agent. They drafted Rallings in the 22nd round in last year’s draft, but he underwent Tommy John surgery and did not sign. He has sped through the typical recovery timeline. … First baseman C.J. Cron remains day to day with a bruised hand sustained on a hit-by-pitch Sunday, while on rehab assignment for a bruised foot with triple-A Salt Lake.