ANAHEIM, Calif. – From growing speculation about Shohei Ohtani’s future to the wild card race, the Angels are at a critical point in their season, one that has also been impacted by injuries to some of the team’s top performers.
They currently have 16 players on the injured list — the most in the majors.
Four games back from the No. 3 American League wild card spot, here’s a roundup of updates for a few of the players who are healing and heading toward a return.
Anthony Rendon
After fouling off a ball that hit him in the shin in San Diego on July 4, Anthony Rendon was placed on the IL with a left shin contusion. X-rays and CT scans showed no signs of fracture, so he continued doing baseball activity on the field but the pain didn’t let up.
Frustrated and looking for answers, Nevin said that Rendon underwent an MRI on Friday, which revealed significant bleeding in the bone. He’ll be out for two weeks to rest before the team assesses his ramp up back to playing. He won’t travel with the team on the upcoming road trip to Detroit, Toronto and Atlanta, added Nevin.
“We’ll miss them over the next two weeks, certainly. I’ll be talking to him. I’ll be in touch with him. It stinks what he’s going through. I know the heat he takes, but I hope people understand that his guy is hurt right now and it hurts him inside to not be out there,” said Nevin.
Mike Trout
Mike Trout, who was placed on the IL with a left hamate fracture in his hand a little over two weeks ago, is back to throwing and doing mobility and grip strength work after having the stitches removed.
Nevin said that the doctors were able to shave down some of the scar tissue, and for now, they are focusing on pain tolerance to make sure he doesn’t exacerbate the injury during the healing process.
The timeline for his return is not yet clear, but Nevin said the next step is to have him start swinging the bat again.
“It’s really a pain tolerance thing for now to make sure you’re not going to injure anything else in there. But they are painful and they do take a little bit of time. Right now he feels really good,” said Nevin.
Jo Adell
Jo Adell was brought up from the Salt Lake Bees on July 4 to play in San Diego against the Padres, but he was placed on the IL shortly after on July 14 with a left oblique strain.
Nevin said that Adell is working on recovery at the Arizona Complex, but the injury is similar to the right oblique strain that Matt Moore recently recovered from, which kept Moore on the IL from May 25 to July 14.
“Jo has a pretty significant oblique. He’s also in Arizona working on his body and doing the things he can to make forward progress with this, but it’s gonna be a little bit of time.”
Zach Neto
Youngster Zach Neto is not on the injured list, and manager Phil Nevin said they don’t expect to put him on the IL, but he was scratched from Saturday night’s lineup with lower back tightness.
Nevin said he started to feel soreness late during Friday night’s game, and after working with doctors and chiropractors on Saturday, he felt too stiff to make a start. On Sunday before the series finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Nevin said that Neto’s back was “still pretty stiff,” and he was “unable to go.”
Neto got the day off on Sunday ahead of the team’s scheduled off day on Monday, and Nevin said he should be ready to play on Tuesday against Detroit.
“Hopefully by Tuesday, he’ll get this thing knocked out. These things flare up and usually last a couple days and hopefully, it’ll be calmed down by then,” said Nevin.
