Fans around baseball received exciting news today as veteran superstar told reporters (including ) this afternoon that he is basically pain-free with only occasional sorene s as he works his way back from in his left knee that he underwent at the end of April. Initial reporting suggested a recovery timeline in the range of six weeks was po sible for the 32-year-old based on similar surgeries other players had undergone previously, though the Angels cautioned that they intended to take Trouts rehab slowly in order to minimize the po sibility of re-injury. Theyve certainly done that, as tomorrow will mark two months since Trout went under the knife and he has still not began running, as he told reporters (including Blum) earlier today. While he has no specific timetable for his return from the IL or even for himself to resume running, Trout indicated that he expects to be back by the end of July. Given the fact that Trout will almost a suredly require Zach Andrews Jersey a rehab a signment of some length after a two-month layoff, that timeline would suggest that the star expects to resume running in relatively short order. The po sibility of Trout returning in the near future is certainly an exciting one, both for Angels fans and fans around the baseball world. After all, the 32-year-old veteran was long considered the games best player and is already a slam-dunk future Hall of Famer as an 11-time All Star who finished within the top 5 of AL MVP voting in nine consecutive seasons while winning the award three times. Trouts career slash line of .299/.410/.581 gives him the 12th-highest career wRC+ in MLB history, ahead of legends of the game such as and . Prior to going on the IL this season, Trout had gotten off to an unusual start. The superstar slugged an incredible ten home runs in just 29 games prior to going on the IL, was striking out at a 21.4% clip that would be his lowest since the pandemic if maintained throughout the whole year, and boasted a strong 12.7% walk rate. While those elite peripherals would suggest that Trout was an early favorite to win his fourth AL MVP award this year, an eye-popping batting average on balls in play of just .194 left Trout with a slash line of just .220/.325/.541 in 126 trips to the plate prior to his placement on the injured list. While the overwhelming majority of hitters would be delighted to post a wRC+ of 138, thats a far cry from Trouts typical lofty standard. Of course, this is far from the only injury thats plagued Trout in recent years. The veteran has played in just 51% of the clubs games since the start of the 2020 season amid injury woes ranging from calf and back problems to a fractured hamate bone, in addition to this seasons knee surgery. Those injury woes have not only cost Trout nearly half of his games over the past half decade, but have also turned his contract with the Angels, which runs through the 2030 season, into a relative bargain for a future Hall of Famer into a deal that the Halos might have trouble moving on from even if both the organization and Trout himself were to decide that theyd like to part ways. Talented as Trout is, its extremely unlikely that his return will be able to spur Anaheim into the postseason. The clubs 35-46 record leaves them 10.5 games back in the AL West and nine games back of the final AL Wild Card spot with a record better than only the lowly As and White Sox among all AL clubs. To even finish the season with a .500 record, the Halos would need to play at a .568 clip the rest of the way, on par with what the Braves have done in the first half this year. Stan Mikita Jersey