It has been exactly a month since Mike Trout has played in an MLB game. That streak will end tonight in Cleveland. The former MVP has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list and will be in the lineup on Friday against Luis Ortiz and the Guardians.
It’s been an odd start to the season for the 33-year-old. Not in the sense he was injured, as that has sadly been the norm the past half-decade, but in his statistical results. While Trout did manage nine long balls in his first 121 plate appearances of the season, he’s also slashing just .179/.264/.462 with a 29.8% strikeout rate. The whiffs have been a part of Trout’s game for some time now, but they were always offset with tremendous success on his batted ball events. Well, thanks primarily to a .159 BABIP, that has not been the case so far in 2025.
Still, it’s not like Trout’s talent has disappeared. He owns a 96th percentile expected slugging percentage (.577) and a 94th percentile barrel rate (16.7%). The hits will come. The homers will continue to come. Let’s just hope he stays healthy enough for this normalization to take affect.
