ARLINGTON -- After a three-week stint on the 10-day injured list, Angels superstar Mike Trout was back in the lineup and back in the home run column -- but not back in center field just yet.
With a two-run homer, a walk and a run scored Wednesday, Trout helped propel the Angels to a 13-1 rout of the Rangers at Globe Life Field.
“The most important thing is for him to get out there and get at-bats ... and never doubt him,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said.
On the 15th anniversary of his MLB debut, Trout collected his 18th homer with an eighth-inning, Statcast-projected 438-foot rocket to left-center field. He is back on course to play in the All-Star Game on Tuesday in Philadelphia, where he will be a starting outfielder for the American League.
On Wednesday, Trout was in the No. 2 hole at DH, where he made 106 of his 128 starts last season. But center field is still where Trout’s heart is, even if his right hamstring isn’t fully ready to be back out there yet. That’s the position Trout has occupied 1,408 times in 1,723 MLB appearances, and perhaps most significantly, where he started 63 of his first 74 games during a resurgent first half of 2026.
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Although Trout acknowledged he’d “play it by ear” regarding his availability as a fielder in the immediate future, he said his hamstring feels good enough to be out there.
“I ran pretty good Tuesday, to where I felt comfortable,” Trout said before Wednesday’s game. “I haven't felt [any discomfort] in a week or so, and I went back-to-back days, over 90 percent on the bases and in the outfield, and did some outfield drills, and came out of it good.”
Trout will ease back in rather than play two days in a row in the outfield on the turf at Globe Life Field. After a three-game series in Minnesota, he'll play in the All-Star Game just 40 miles from his hometown of Millville, N.J.
Trout is a two-time All-Star Game MVP (2014 and ’15), but hasn’t played in the contest since 2019. Although Trout wasn’t an All-Star in either of the past two seasons, he still leads all active players with 12 All-Star selections.
Trout said Wednesday that he is “for sure” good to go for the Midsummer Classic next week.
“He's been to it a lot of times, but I know this one meant a lot to him, obviously being in Philly,” Suzuki said recently. “Just how hard he's worked to get to this spot. I played with Mike for two years. I appreciated the way he went about it. But now being a manager and seeing how he goes about it and what he means to the team, it couldn't have happened to a better guy.”
Returning to center field this season seems to have rejuvenated the 34-year-old Trout. After 335 plate appearances going into Wednesday’s game, Trout is enjoying his most productive season since 2022 in virtually every offensive metric. His OPS+ is 145 this year, 21 points higher than his relatively modest -- but still elite -- 2025 performance.
So, has the increased time in center this season helped his hitting?
“It has something to do with it, maybe,” Trout said Tuesday. “When you're on defense, you're not in the cage tinkering [with] your swing. And when you're not getting hits, you can take hits away from other guys. So I think that has something to do with it.”
Center field is, of course, where Trout became a household name, as he established himself as the premier power hitter of the 2010s. From 2011-19, among players with at least 400 plate appearances, Trout was the only player with a four-figure OPS (exactly 1.000). He slashed .305/.419/.581 over 1,199 games during that era.
If he has his way, Trout will be back in center soon enough, although Suzuki said he will proceed cautiously.
“I know he's not a fan of DH-ing,” Suzuki said. “I'm not saying that's the reason why his production [last season] wasn't where we expected it to be, but I think being on the field -- he loves being on the field, he loves competing with the guys, so I think having him more involved in that aspect defensively helped him offensively.”
Infielder Donovan Walton was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.