Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout, a three-time AL MVP, was on track to have one of the greatest statistical careers of any player in MLB history. Perhaps he still will, but injuries have started to sidetrack Trout's career'and it's unclear when his current stint on the injured list will end. Trout has been diagnosed with a rare back condition called costovertebral dysfunction.
Trout has not appeared in a game since July 12 when he left with back spasms. Rib cage inflammation is what is causing the back pain. It will be something the An gels and Trout will likely have to monitor for the rest of his career. The team will reevaluate Trout once his body has had more time to benefit from the cortisone shot he received last week.
“I think we have to have some concern on that,” Angels head athletic trainer Mike Frostad said to the Athletic when asked about Trout being out long term. “We do have to look at this as something that – he has to manage it, not just through the rest of this season, but also through the rest of his career probably.
“This is a pretty rare condition that he has right now in his back,” Frostad continued. “(Dr. Robert Watkins), one of the most well-known spine surgeons in the country, if not the world, doesn't see a lot of these. For it to happen in a baseball player, we just have to take into consideration what he puts himself through with hitting, swinging on a daily basis just to get prepared and then also playing in the outfield, diving for balls. J umping into the wall, things like that. And there's so many things that can aggravate it, but this doctor hasn't seen a lot of it.”