Mike Trout’s Surprising Position Switch: What It Means for the Angels’ Future

So, Mike Trout is switching gears—right field, instead of center stage, this season. After years of playing hide-and-seek with injuries, could this savvy move finally keep the Angels’ crown jewel on the diamond more consistently? With SoCal buzzing over some quiet offseason pickups, it’s easy to overlook that none of it truly matters if Trout can’t stick around. His simple, no-nonsense declaration—“I just want to be on the field… I’m with it”—feels like a quiet rallying cry for a comeback. But here’s the kicker: can a change of position really rewrite the script for a player who hasn’t cracked 140 games in a season since 2016? As we edge closer to opening pitch, the hope simmering beneath the surface is that this savvy adjustment might just preserve one of baseball’s brightest lights. Fingers crossed, right?

The Los Angeles Angels quietly had a nice little offseason for themselves by bringing in Jorge Soler, Kyle Hendricks, Yoan Moncada, Travis d’Arnaud, and Kenley Jansen, and there is reason for excitement in SoCal for the first time in a while, even though Anthony Rendon is already on the 60-Day IL again.

As nice as the offseason has been, none of it matters unless future Hall-of-Famer Mike Trout can stay healthy, and he recently announced a position change that should help him do just that.

MLB Network shared a clip of Trout doing some press prior to Monday’s Spring Training work.

Trout announced that he will be moving to right field full-time this season, saying, “I like it. We’ll try it out. See where it goes. I just want to be on the field…I’m with it.”

"I just want to be on the field… I'm with it."

Mike Trout announces he will be moving from center field to right field this season. https://t.co/CxfgKJ8rG2 pic.twitter.com/1rr8W15LAT

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) February 17, 2025

Trout added that he’ll talk to former teammate and current Special Assistant to the General Manager Torii Hunter when he gets to camp since he made the same change to accommodate Trout playing center field back in the day.

Trout hasn’t played in more than 140 games in a season since 2016 and hasn’t played more than 82 games in four of the last five years, so keeping his bat in the lineup is the No. 1 priority for the Angels this season.

It’s a shame how much of Trout baseball fans have been robbed of due to injuries in recent years, but he says he is healthy and feeling good in camp, so hopefully playing right field with some designated hitter mixed in can help him play his first full season in a long time.

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