Mike Trout has continued to make progress in his recovery and return from a back injury.
On Thursday, Angels athletic trainer Mike Frostad said the center fielder started his rotational work on Wednesday. That work involves exercises targeted towards strengthening his muscles in preparation for eventually swinging a bat.
“Mike’s doing well,” Frostad said before the Angels’ matinee with the Oakland Athletics. “He’s progressing as we expected and he’s just continuing to go through his program right now. Everything’s looking good.”
There is no timeline for when he will start swinging a bat as his return is being handled day to day. The Angels also have not discussed a rehabilitation assignment for Trout.
“He’s feeling good, that’s the best thing right now,” Frostad said. “He’s coming back after this first day [of rotation work] and he’s doing good.”
Trout will not travel with the team for their road series against the Seattle Mariners. He will continue his program and get work done at the Angel Stadium facilities.
Trout has not played since getting pulled from the middle of a game against the Houston Astros on July 12 with back spasms. He was put on the 10-day injured list later that week with left rib cage inflammation and was given a cortisone shot July 21 to help alleviate discomfort and aid in the recovery process.
He saw a spine specialist, who said the Angels star had costovertebral dysfunction at T5, which the team announced July 27. The injury term refers to a joint connected to a rib at the thoracic section of his spine, which became inflamed.
Trout and the team are not sure what caused the injury. He did speculate the uptick in swings he was taking between the indoor batting cages and outdoor batting practice was a primary factor — overuse of the joint can cause it to become inflamed.
Shohei Ohtani ‘fine’
Shohei Ohtani was in the starting lineup Thursday’, batting second as the designated hitter.
On Wednesday, Ohtani was pulled before batting in the seventh inning with a forearm cramp in his right arm that he felt when he grabbed a bat towards the end of the game.
“It’s fine,” Frostad said of Ohtani on Thursday. “It was a precautionary move last night, and everything checked out and he’s in the lineup today as a DH, so everything’s good.… There’s very minimal concern on our end.”
Angels interim manager Phil Nevin plans to give Ohtani a rest day before the end of the week.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.