In a giant blow to their playoff hopes, the Los Angeles Angels have placed superstar Mike Trout on the injured list with a left hamate fracture.
Trout was placed on the 10-day injured list, per ESPN. Bob Nightengale of USA Today added that Trout is expected to be out of action until August:
Trout suffered the injury in the top of the eighth inning of Monday’s game against the San Diego Padres after fouling off a pitch from Nick Martinez.
The Angels entered play on Tuesday three games behind out of the final AL Wild Card spot. The team has been struggling over the past two weeks, having dropped five of their last six games. They stood at 41-33 on June 15 but are now just three games above .500 with the All-Star break looming.
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The 31-year-old Trout is in the midst of another superb season. He is batting .263 with 18 homers, 44 RBI, an OPS of .862 and a wins-above-replacement (WAR) of 2.9. Without Trout, the Angels will now have to rely even more on two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani to lead the way.
Unfortunately, injuries have piled up on the three-time AL MVP since 2017. Trout has was limited to 36 games in 2021, and he missed 43 games last year. With the exception of the shortened 60-game season in 2020, Trout has missed at least 22 games every year since 2017.
