ANAHEIM — Four hours before Wednesday’s game, Mike Trout was in center field at Angel Stadium, working on playing balls hit to the angled corner. The night before, Trout had admittedly misplayed a ball there, leading to a triple and a run for the Seattle Mariners.
“He knows that ball probably needs to be caught,” outfield coach Adam Eaton said. “So he said, ‘You know what, we’re going to fix it. We’ll fix it the next day.’ So we came out early and I try to help him any way I can.”
It was the latest example of Trout acknowledging that he’s not the player he used to be in center field. At 35, he is by far the oldest everyday center fielder in the majors.
Trout started in center for the 108th time this season on Wednesday. Cedric Mullins, 31, is the only other player in his 30s to start at least 100 games in center field this season.
“It’s a little different than when I was younger, because when I was younger I was diving all over the place,” Trout said. “I felt like I can make a dive and be good. I think there’s times where the game’s on the line and I’ve got to dive to make a play. I’m going to do whatever I can to catch it. I still tell myself I can catch everything.”
That said, Trout acknowledged he has to “protect my body” at times. That means that he doesn’t catch all the balls that younger center fielders catch. Defensive metrics rate him well below average this season.
“For where he’s at in his career, he’s doing OK,” Eaton said. “His efficiencies on his routes are really good. Getting to the baseball has been up and down for most of the year. But he makes intelligent decisions, which helps. Having your superstar in the lineup, in center field, every single day is a boost for our boys, and to see how he works and how he goes about his business. There’s things other than making the play or not. That’s definitely what it comes down to. But it’s always great to have your superstar in the lineup every day.”
Trout had not played 100 games in center field since 2022, and he’s likely to finish this season with more games in center field than in any season since 2019, when he was a 27-year-old on his way to his third American League MVP award.
After a short-lived experiment with him in right field last season, Trout moved back to center this season because it’s where he was most comfortable. The Angels, who had no one better, went along with it.
“It makes you feel more engaged,” Trout said. “If I’m not helping the team at the plate, you try to take some hits away from other people. There’s a balance to it.”
It remains to be seen what will happen next year. Trout said he’ll have those conversations over the winter.
For now, he’s satisfied that he’s done what he’s done in center this year.
“I’m proud of myself for being out there every day, the majority of the year, being able to finish strong here,” he said.
NATERA OUT, BACHMAN IN
Left-hander Samy Natera Jr. was placed on the injured list with forearm inflammation. Natera underwent an MRI exam on the recently completed trip, and he said he’s scheduled for another one on Thursday.
“It’s scary, but we’ll see what happens,” Natera said.
Natera had been on the injured list in August with a back injury, but he said he felt fine when he came back from that. He said “at some point during the road trip, it just didn’t feel right.”
Natera pitched three times in four days last week, which suggests that he hadn’t mentioned anything to the Angels until after that. Natera gave up three runs during a blown save on Friday in Washington.
Natera, 26, finishes his rookie season with a 3.13 ERA and 48 strikeouts in 31⅔ innings. He had moved into a high-leverage role, so any long-term injury would be a big loss for the bullpen in 2027.
“I just love the way he attacks hitters,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “He’s got a great fastball and loves to use it.”
Natera was replaced on the roster by right-hander Sam Bachman, who had been out for more than a month with a nerve issue. Bachman acknowledged that he pitched for a couple of weeks after the All-Star break without feeling his best.
“It’s just hard mentally to go out there and be convicted when the body isn’t really meshing with that,” Bachman said. “When your body feels good, you’re not thinking about how it could feel or not finishing pitches. You kind of get out of your mechanics and it’s hard to have conviction in that when you know your body can’t help you do that.”
SETBACK FOR SCHANUEL
First baseman Nolan Schanuel, who is on the IL with a strained intercostal muscle, had been scheduled to play a rehab game at Triple-A on Tuesday, but he “felt a little irritation,” Suzuki said, so he’s going to “take a step back a little bit.”
Schanuel last played on Aug. 20. With less than two weeks to go in the regular season, he now might run out of time to return. Suzuki said there’s still a chance he can come back because a position player doesn’t need the kind of buildup that a pitcher does.
UP NEXT
Twins (RHP Taj Bradley, 11-6, 3.81 ERA) at Angels (RHP Walbert Ureña, 9-10, 2.88 ERA), Thursday, 6:38 p.m., ABTV, 830 AM