{"id":576299,"date":"2026-02-16T22:28:35","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/576299\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T22:28:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:28:35","slug":"angels-star-makes-feeling-clear-on-position-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/576299\/","title":{"rendered":"Angels star makes feeling clear on position switch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Trout might be headed back to his natural position.<\/p>\n

Trout, 34, told reporters Monday that he wants to play center field again. Trout and Angels first-year manager Kurt Suzuki have \u201calready had a good conversation\u201d about the potential move, according to MLB.com.<\/p>\n

Trout said that he\u2019s more comfortable in center, and playing the position is easier on his body than right field, ESPN\u2019s Alden Gonzalez added<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"BaseballMike Trout hasn\u2019t played a complete season since the shortened 2020 campaign. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con<\/p>\n

Gonzalez said that Trout also \u201chates \u201cDHing,\u201d where he spent 106 games in 2025 along with 22 in right field, a decision he and the team made before the season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In recent years, Trout has been relegated to those spots \u2014 or the Injured List \u2014 often. Trout\u2019s waning health certainly plays a factor into wanting to move back to his old stomping grounds.<\/p>\n

Trout hasn\u2019t played over 130 games in a season since 2019 due to numerous lengthy injuries. That included a season-ending meniscus tear<\/a> in 2024 and a fractured hamate bone<\/a> in 2023 that saw him miss 89 games. He was also diagnosed with a rare back condition<\/a> in 2022.<\/p>\n

He played his most games since that 2019 campaign in 2025, yet his production wasn\u2019t at the level it\u2019s typically been. Trout finished with 26 homers and 64 RBIs, but he slashed .232\/.359\/.439, a far cry from the three MVP awards and 11 All-Star selections he collected earlier in his career.<\/p>\n

\"MikeWith Mike Trout\u2019s numerous Injured List AP<\/p>\n

Whether Trout actually does play center field is still unclear. The Angels did ship off Taylor Ward<\/a> to Baltimore in the offseason, opening up a potential outfield spot for Trout.<\/p>\n

Jo Adell, Jorge Soler and Josh Lowe are the other options currently on Los Angeles\u2019 roster. Adell played center for much of last year, but he was underwhelming defensively, which also boons Trout\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

The Angels certainly could use Trout\u2019s normal production back as well. But it might not matter. Even with Trout, they\u2019ve only made the postseason once in his career in 2014, coincidentally the last time Los Angeles clinched a playoff berth. It\u2019s the longest current drought in the majors.<\/p>\n

Last year, the Angels finished 72-90, in last place in the American League West for the second straight year.<\/p>\n

With Ron Washington missing most of last season after undergoing quadruple bypass surgery, they hired first-time coach Suzuki<\/a> as their new manager. Suzuki spent his last two MLB seasons as a backup catcher with Los Angeles in 2021 and 2022.<\/p>\n

Suzuki\u2019s going to need the best version of Trout if he wants to contend in 2026. Maybe a switch to center could be just what he needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Trout might be headed back to his natural position. Trout, 34, told reporters Monday that he wants…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2390],"tags":[291,5,1165,446,3223,774,56,3224,3222,603,4,185,151],"class_list":{"0":"post-576299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-angels","8":"tag-angels","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-la-angels","12":"tag-laangels","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-angels","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangelesangels","17":"tag-mike-trout","18":"tag-mlb","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-spring-training"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116082673219750785","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}