After getting a 40-game taste of Major League Baseball in 2011 with the Los Angeles Angels, center fielder Mike Trout began the 2012 season with the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees, where he batted a ridiculous .403 with a home run, 13 RBI and six stolen bases in 20 games before he was called back up by the Angels.
Trout wound up being named an All-Star and winning AL Rookie of the Year in 2012. Since then, he has won AL MVP three times and been named an All-Star 10 more times, but never has he returned to Salt Lake for an assignment.
That is set to change next week, as MLB.com’s Angels beat writer Rhett Bollinger first reported Friday night that Angels manager Ron Washington said Trout would begin a rehab assignment with the Bees.
The timeline for that was not immediately clear, but Bollinger reported Saturday that Trout could start the assignment as early as next Monday.
Bollinger later clarified that since minor league teams don’t play on Mondays, the assignment would begin Tuesday when the Bees face the El Paso Chihuahuas (the Triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres) at Smith’s Ballpark in Salt Lake City.
Bollinger reported that Trout could be back with the Angels as soon as next Thursday at home against the Oakland A’s.
Trout, 32, has been out for nearly three months after he was diagnosed with a torn meniscus on April 30 that got surgically repaired.
The Angels have not been to the playoffs in 10 years (they were swept 3-0 in the first round by the Kansas City Royals) and currently have the third-worst record in the American League at 41-57.