Houston Astros stars Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa were also unable to acquire insurance<\/a> and won\u2019t play for Team Venezuela and Team Puerto Rico, respectively. In 2023, Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw faced a similar issue and was left off the roster.<\/p>\nTrout performed well in the 2023 WBC, posting a .962 OPS with three home runs and seven RBIs in the team\u2019s seven games. He famously struck out in the final game against then-Angels teammate Shohei Ohtani to seal a 3-2 championship win for Team Japan.<\/p>\n
Even if Trout were able to participate in 2026, it\u2019s unclear what role he\u2019d play on the roster. The centerpiece of the lineup just three years ago, a decline in his on-field production and a lack of certainty about his ability to play the outfield would be areas of concern.<\/p>\n
The American team boasts the likes of Aaron Judge, Byron Buxton and Pete Crow-Armstrong in its star-studded outfield, with Kyle Schwarber expected to take the bulk of the DH duties. Roman Anthony was officially added to the outfield group on Monday in place of Corbin Carroll, who had hand surgery last week. Trout said he\u2019s chatted with the team\u2019s new captain, Aaron Judge, and he\u2019s happy that his friend and fellow outfielder earned the title this time around.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re stacked,\u201d Trout said. \u201cI think it\u2019s good for baseball to see the big guys do it. It was kind of up in the air with guys not wanting to do it. Then they saw how exciting it was. The experience is unbelievable. It\u2019s an experience you don\u2019t want to miss.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trout struggled in 2025 \u2014 posting a sub-.800 OPS for the first time in his career, and a career-high 32 percent strikeout rate. He was not voted as an All-Star in either of the past two seasons after being elected for 11 consecutive years, and did not play the outfield after April 2025.<\/p>\n
The 11-time All-Star said he\u2019s back in center field after shifting to right field at this time last year. Trout ended up DHing the final four-plus months of his season, which could still constitute a significant chunk of his time in the lineup. But for now, the plan is for him to mostly play center field.<\/p>\n
\u201cI prefer center. I just feel comfortable out there,\u201d Trout said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m at my best when I\u2019m in center.\u201d<\/p>\n
The change will help the Angels\u2019 outfield alignment \u2014 allowing Jo Adell to mostly play right field, his best defensive position. That, in turn, will allow slugger Jorge Soler to mostly DH. The 33-year-old struggles defensively and said last year that outfield reps contributed to his injury issues.<\/p>\n
The Angels had a largely dormant offseason otherwise, bringing in tons of players on minor-league deals and making minimal upgrades to the big-league roster. Trout, however, shied away from providing any substantive thoughts on the team\u2019s chances this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust gonna take it one game at a time,\u201d Trout said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a great group. It\u2019s Day 1, getting to know everybody. See how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEMPE, Ariz. \u2014 Mike Trout, dubbed \u201cCaptain America\u201d for the World Baseball Classic just three years ago, said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,2866,1334],"class_list":["post-180623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-mlb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}