How many games has Mike Trout missed in his career? Injury status update

And just like that, bang goes Mike Trout’s All Star game. The LA Angels have confirmed that the outfielder will miss the next six to eight weeks as he has surgery to repair a fractured hamate bone in his left hand.

This isn’t the first brush with injury that Trout has had, either. From a certain standpoint, in fact, you would be forgiven for thinking that Trout’s career has been defined recently not so much by his play as by his absence.

Over the past few years, the man generally held to be the greatest five-tool player in the world, possibly even ever, has missed large chunks of seasons with foot, leg, and arm issues. He missed nearly half of 2019 with leg, calf, and toe problems, about a third of 2021 with elbow and calf injuries, and roughly half of last season with hand and back problems.

Nobody questions the prodigious skillset that Trout possesses, but at some point you have to wonder what this run of injury will do to Trout’s legacy in the game.

The greatest all-around athlete who ever lived was Bo Jackson. That is simply a fact, and anyone who saw him play will confirm it. But his injuries led to a severely shortened career in both MLB and NFL. Today, nothing is left in the record books of the man. No future generations will have the ability to judge his athleticism, no yardstick by which to measure him. Only those of us who bore witness who wistfully shake our heads at the mention of his name as we wonder aloud how much a healthy version of Bo could have done.

Understand please, that I am not saying that Trout is in danger of that happening. Already, his career has given us some solid proof of his greatness. He is currently sitting at 368 career home runs, putting him number 84 all time. Even a diminished version of himself returning next year should get him into the 390 area, equalling players like Dale Murphy and Johnny Bench. His .301 career average is top-100 all time material as well.

But with 537 games missed over his career, not counting 2023, Trout is already seeing some head shaking going on when his name is mentioned. He will certainly miss another 60 to 80 games at a minimum this season. He could still have a Hall of Fame career yet, although he is a long way off of it just now. But if he doesn’t, if he misses out on Cooperstown, how much of that will be down to injury?

All of this, of course, is just conjecture. Trout may come back better than ever. And one thing that has benefitted, not only Trout but many modern players, is the amazing advances in surgical techniques and recovery. Throughout the long history of baseball, many thousands of players have had their careers blunted or ended by injuries that today can be not much more than an annoyance.

Let’s hope that one day, when his playing days are long done, there will be no headshaking, no asterisks next to the name of Mike Trout. Let us hope that he comes back in September and shows us all just how great he is. I, for one, will be more than happy to be to hear “I told you so.”