{"id":352697,"date":"2025-12-18T06:07:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T06:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/352697\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T06:07:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T06:07:07","slug":"angels-open-to-playing-mike-trout-in-center-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/352697\/","title":{"rendered":"Angels Open To Playing Mike Trout In Center Field"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last offseason, the Angels moved\u00a0Mike Trout<\/a> out of center field. They hoped that he\u2019s stay healthier as an everyday right fielder after he\u2019d been limited to 82 games or fewer in three of the previous four seasons. Things didn\u2019t go as planned, as Trout suffered a bone bruise in his left knee that cost him almost all of May. He avoided the injured list the rest of the way but was a full-time designated hitter.<\/p>\n

Trout didn\u2019t log a single inning in center field. He made 22 starts in right, none after the end of April. Nevertheless, general manager Perry Minasian told reporters this week that the Halos could bounce Trout around the outfield next season. That might include some playing time back up the middle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not ruling anything out,\u201d the GM said (link via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com<\/a>). \u201cWe\u2019ll see where the team looks like when we get to Spring Training and what\u2019s in place and what gives us the best chance to win games. (He) might be playing center. One day might be playing left. One day might be DHing.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Minasian noted, a lot could depend on what the remainder of the offseason looks like. The Angels entered the winter with a logjam in the corners. That\u2019s not so much the case after they traded\u00a0Taylor Ward<\/a> for\u00a0Grayson Rodriguez<\/a>. It\u2019d still be ideal to have Trout playing regularly in the outfield again, especially if they want to give\u00a0Jorge Soler<\/a> a rebound opportunity.<\/p>\n

Soler should be a DH but was forced to start 39 games in right field (with predictably poor results) by Trout\u2019s injury. The Angels gave Jo Adell<\/a> 724 innings in center field. He was arguably the worst defensive center fielder in MLB and found himself back in right field for the final two months of the season. The best defensive alignment has Trout in left, Adell in right, and Soler at DH.<\/p>\n

That requires someone else to step up as the regular center fielder. Bryce Teodosio<\/a> is an excellent defender, but he\u2019s coming off a .203\/.248\/.304 showing in 50 games.\u00a0Kyren Paris<\/a> and\u00a0Matthew Lugo<\/a> picked up a handful of center field starts but didn\u2019t hit well either. They presumably don\u2019t want Trout playing there on an everyday basis.<\/p>\n

The Angels are so aggressive with their prospect promotions that it\u2019s probably not out of the question that 20-year-old Nelson Rada<\/a> gets a chance to break camp. He\u2019s a speedster and potential plus defender who split his age-19 season between Double-A and Triple-A. Rada stole 54 bases and reached base at fantastic .398 clip behind a 12.7% walk rate. He\u2019s a gifted pure hitter but has essentially no power upside in his 5\u20199\u2033 frame. He hit just two home runs this year and has six longballs in his professional career. Baseball America<\/a> ranks him the #4 prospect and the top position player talent in a weak Halos\u2019 farm system.<\/p>\n

Even if Rada begins the season at Triple-A Salt Lake, it\u2019s likely he\u2019ll be in the majors at some point next season. That could give them enough confidence to patch things together at the position internally. \u201cDo we have to go get a center fielder? Not necessarily,\u201d Minasian said. \u201cWe have some players that we believe can fill the position and obviously, Teodosio can play defense at a very high level. It\u2019s more player-specific. \u2026 I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s a must, but is it an area we\u2019re looking at? Absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n

As is often the case, the center field supply is limited.\u00a0Harrison Bader<\/a> is the only regular available in free agency, unless a team feels Cody Bellinger<\/a> could move back to the position in an everyday capacity.\u00a0Luis Robert Jr.<\/a> is a long shot trade possibility. The Astros are shopping\u00a0Jake Meyers<\/a> but want MLB starting pitching, which the Angels don\u2019t have in abundance. A role player like Nathan Lukes<\/a> or\u00a0Jacob Young<\/a> come could available but may not move the needle enough for the Halos to prioritize them.<\/p>\n

The Angels have various other needs to weigh against their center field situation. They should add a multi-positional infielder who can handle both second and third base. They need at least one starting pitcher and one or two high-leverage relievers, ideally ones who throw from the right side. Minasian confirmed this afternoon that they\u2019re still in the bullpen market after signing\u00a0Drew Pomeranz<\/a> and\u00a0Jordan Romano<\/a> last night (via Bollinger<\/a>). An outside addition could push Robert Stephenson<\/a> and Ben Joyce<\/a>\u00a0to succeed\u00a0Kenley Jansen<\/a> in the ninth. \u201cThere\u2019s no set closer right now. We\u2019re still looking at the bullpen. It\u2019s not an area where we\u2019re done,\u201d Minasian said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last offseason, the Angels moved\u00a0Mike Trout out of center field. They hoped that he\u2019s stay healthier as an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[43407,49,48,4011,462,152961,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-352697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-bryce-teodosio","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-mike-trout","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-nelson-rada","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}