Six months after a hot hug, Trout wasn't there

Sep 06, 2024

Tani Shohei and Mike Trout meet and hug each other in Camelback Ranch, Arizona, where the exhibition game was held on March 6 (Korea time). AP Yonhap News

Mike Trout hits a shortstop double play in the third inning against the Cincinnati Reds on August 23 (Korea time) last year. Behind him, Ohtani is watching Trout's batting in the waiting at-bat. It is the last game that Trout and Ohtani played together. AP Yonhap News

Few duos in Major League history have written as impressive '敍' as Ohtani and Trout.

In the 1930s, the two were famous for their `double guns' in the Angels, compared to New York Yankees Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. But the two were a 'incomplete' duo. Although Ohtani has been a team for six seasons from 2018 to last year when he joined the Angels, he has never played full-time with a healthy body.

Until 2020, Ohtani was still in the superstar ranks due to elbow surgery, and since 2020, Trout has been seriously injured every year and spent years on the injured list (IL) without playing half of the regular schedule.

However, when the two were in the lineup together, Angels fans, who turned their backs after failing to play in the fall baseball for nearly 10 years, also cheered enthusiastically.

Ohtani and Trout hit home runs together in a career of 30 games. In that game, the Angels went 21–9. Last year, when Ohtani last played for the Angels, he hit home runs together in eight games, leading to a 7-1 record. But their relationship ended there.

Ohtani posing at the Dodgers' joining ceremony in December last year. AP Yonhap News

Realizing that there was no more hope in the Angels, Ohtani went to the FA market in December last year and signed a 10-year, 700 million-dollar contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers to build a new nest. Ohtani's ultimate goal is to win the World Series.

But Ohtani couldn't say goodbye to Trout properly as he left the Angels like that. Ohtani suffered an elbow injury in early August last year and ended the season as a pitcher after a game against the Cincinnati Reds on August 24, and in September, he ended the season as a batter due to overlapping abdominal muscle injuries. Eventually, on September 20th, he underwent Tommy John Surgery and went into rehabilitation. Ohtani said goodbye to the Angels just before the end of the season, organizing his luggage in the locker room.

Trout was in a similar situation. Trout, who was out for nearly two months in early July after suffering a fractured right plexus bone, returned to the game against Cincinnati on Aug. 23, but his injury recurred and ended the season as it was. The last time they played together was against the Cincinnati Reds at Angel Stadium on Aug. 23.

In early spring, when winter was over and spring training was in full swing, the two of them died in camp. March 6 in an exhibition game between the two teams at Glendale Camelback Ranch, Arizona. The two players, who met in the outfield, shared a hot hug and asked each other how they were doing and patted each other on the shoulder.

However, that was the last time Ohtani saw Trout's face on the ground. A total of four games were scheduled for this year's showdown between the Dodgers and Angels, or the Freeway Series. It was two games at Dodger Stadium on June 22-23, and two games at Angel Stadium on the 4th and 5th.

Trout previously ended the season against the Philadelphia Phillies on April 30. He also failed to avoid injury this year. Trout underwent reconstructive surgery on his left knee meniscus on May 4. He played in a minor league rehabilitation game at the end of July after three months of rehabilitation, but decided to end the season as the team gave up the postseason when the injury recurred.

Since Trout signed an extension contract for 12 years and $426.5 million (about 570 billion won) in March 2019, the only seasons he has played properly are in 2019 when he became the MVP for the third time in his career and in 2020, the shortened season. There have been frequent injuries since 2021. He was away for an extended period of time in 2021 with a right scapula, a back in 2022 and a left hand injury in 2023. The same is true this year. Of the Angels' 648 regular-season games in four years, Trout has played only 266 games. The attendance rate is only 41 per cent.

When Shohei Otani entered the batter's box for the first time in the top of the first inning on the 4th, the phrase welcoming him is exposed on the left side of Angel Stadium. Photo = MLB.TV Capture

Otani hits in the sixth inning against the Angels at Angel Stadium on the 5th (Korea time). AFP Yonhap News

Ohtani visited Angel Stadium for the first time since his transfer this time and received warm hospitality from his old teammates and fans. However, Trout was not seen at the scene. Third baseman Anthony Rendon, who was injured as often as Trout, greeted Ohtani with a pleasant look when he hit a triple in the third inning and settled on the base on the 4th.

Ohtani, who is running toward 50 homers and 50 steals, is also currently in the midst of pitching rehabilitation. The goal is to take the mound in next year's opening game. The showdown between pitcher Ohtani and batter Trout in the World Baseball Classic final in March last year is still talked about as a legend.

It remains to be seen whether Ohtani, who returns as a pitcher next year, and Trout, who will complete knee rehabilitation, will be able to face off for the first time in the big league.