Mike Trout is ready to prove his doubters wrong

• After several injury-plagued seasons, Mike Trout is motivated to prove he can still be one of baseball’s best players.
• Trout has expressed his desire to return to playing center field, a position he feels most comfortable in.
• Despite recent struggles and not being ranked among the game’s elite, Trout’s presence continues to command respect in the Angels’ clubhouse.

TEMPE, Ariz. — Mike Trout isn’t vowing to be the Mike Trout of old, the man who was baseball’s greatest player for nearly a decade.

The 11-time All-Star and three-time MVP winner insists he is not angry or upset that he no longer is considered one of the game’s elite players, or even listed among the top 100 players by MLB Network.

Yet ever so quietly the Los Angeles Angels say that they see Trout’s eyes smoldering, that intensity burning inside him, and the confidence to prove he can return to being one of the game’s finest players.

‘I know what I’m capable of doing,’ Trout said Monday. ‘And I feel great.’

The Angels can see it in his demeanor, hear it in his voice, and watch it in his interactions.

‘I’m excited for him, that’s my boy,’ Angels special assistant Torii Hunter, the nine-time Gold Glove winner, tells USA TODAY Sports. ‘I don’t care what nobody says, I think he’s going to have a good year, man. To hear his enthusiasm this year is way different than any other year.

‘I think he’s got a lot to prove. He’s going to prove everybody wrong, all of the naysayers.’

It’s not as if Trout is necessarily going to produce a 1.000 OPS as he did for three consecutive seasons, or hit 40 homers again, and he certainly won’t be stealing 40 bases.

But to believe he’s finished, to think that he can no longer help a team, then you don’t know Mike Trout, who for nine consecutive seasons finished in the top five in the American League MVP balloting.

‘He doesn’t need any rankings or lists to promote himself,’ Angels GM Perry Minasian says, ‘but this is a motivated person. I know the last three, four, five years haven’t been what any of us have hoped, but I believe he’s in constant competition with himself to be as he possibly can be.

‘It’s not even chasing the old Mike Trout, but it’s being as good as he can possibly be right now. You see how relaxed he is showing up, how confident he is. He can still do things that other people can’t do.’

There’s a reason Trout commands such a presence in the Angels camp, with teammates still in awe, remembering the days when he was the greatest player on the planet, drawing comparisons to Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle, and all of the great center fielders before him.

‘My kids were wanting me to retire this winter,’ 36-year-old Angels reliever Brent Suter said, ‘but one day I told them, ‘What if Mike Trout wants me to be his teammate?’ They went crazy. My (7-year-old) son started chanting Mike Trout to his friends in school. They’re so excited, as am I. I never played with a bona fide first-ballot Hall of Famer.

‘He’s given more to this game than you can imagine. He’s such a huge ambassador for our game. Really, it’s an honor playing with him.’

Trout, 34, revealed Monday that he intends to return to center field, just like old times, a position he he last played on a regular basis four years ago.

He sat down with Minasian and rookie manager Kurt Suzuki when he arrived to camp Sunday, strongly expressed his desire to play center, and they promised they’d give him every opportunity. They don’t have a true center fielder, so why not?

‘I told (Suzuki) I’d play anywhere,’ Trout said, ‘but obviously I’d prefer center. I just feel more comfortable out there. I feel like I’m at my best when I’m in center. … When I’m out there, it’s just a lot better for me than worrying about the corners.’

The Angels are fully on board, believing he can play four, perhaps even five days a week in center field with occasional games in right field and at DH.

‘He’s in a great place,’ Minasian said. ‘He’s still strong, still explosive. We’re not closing the door on anything. Kurt and I are on the same page. He’s got the ability to play all three outfield spots. He’d do whatever we need. If we wanted him to play shortstop, he’d do that too.’

Trout is cool playing anywhere, but wants no part of being a full-time DH again as he did a year ago. He opened the 2025 season as a right fielder, but after 22 games, suffered a bone bruise on his surgically-repaired left knee running the bases. He returned a month later and was the Angels’ full-time the remainder of the season. He wound up producing the worst season of his career, hitting .232 with 26 homers, 64 RBI and a career-low .797 OPS.

Perhaps it was no coincidence that Trout’s last great season was when he was a center fielder back in 2022. He hit 40 homers with 80 RBI and a .999 OPS in 119 games that season. He since has been riddled with back, knee and calf injuries, playing in only 241 games out of 486.

Trout’s injury history prevented him from being able to participate in the WBC where he was captain of the USA Team in 2023. He likely wasn’t going to be in the starting lineup, but he badly wanted to play until discovering that the WBC insurance policy wouldn’t cover him in case of injury, potentially voiding the remaining $177.25 million remaining in the last five years of his contract.

‘It’s disappointing,’ Trout said. ‘I definitely wanted to run it back, you know, with all of the guys.’

Now, staying with the Angels all spring, it gives him a chance to prove he can be an everyday center fielder again. If he didn’t believe he could pull it off, he wouldn’t be so adamant about the move. But he feels completely healthy, lost about six pounds, and for the first time in five years is coming off a normal winter of workouts.

Besides, the Angels actually are a better team with a healthy Trout in center field. The Angels could move Jo Adell back to his natural position in right field and have Josh Lowe in left with Jorge Soler as the primary DH.

‘I felt like when I was in center, it was less (stress) on my body,’ Trout said. ‘To be honest, right field felt like I was running a lot. It’s just a preference thing. Talking to some other outfielders, they feel the same way sometimes, that center is less on your legs. I just feel more confident in center.’

And, yes, there’s also the matter of pride. It’s tough for anyone to be told to give up their natural position despite being reminded constantly that Father Time is undefeated.

‘For Mike, I can only imagine that you’re a center field for so long and then they tell you to go to right or DH, that’s pride,’ said Hunter, who moved to right field in 2011 to make room for Peter Bourjos and Trout. ‘You got to swallow it.

‘But he lost a lot of weight. He was so strong at the top, it’s heavy on the legs. Now, he’s going to be able to move more efficiently. So having him play center field might be a good thing.’

Forget the physical burden of playing center, Hunter says, it’s the mental aspect that could greatly benefit Trout, knowing he can be provide value on the defensive side, too.

‘When you’re an athlete like Trout, playing center field for so long,’ Hunter said, ‘he used that defense to pump him up offensively. Defense never slumps, but it can actually pump you up. But if you’re not playing defense, and you struggle at the plate, then all you do is go and sit down and watch video.

‘That’s when the devil starts playing with your mind. Now, he can go out there and no matter what happens at the plate, he can always go out there and make something happen for the team.’

And if Trout is back, and stays healthy, well maybe the Angels can start dreaming of being a legitimate contender again.

‘At the end of the day,’ Minasian says, ‘a healthy Mike Trout obviously changes this club. I think he’s primed for a big year. We’re lucky to have him.’

Follow Bob Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale