Mike Trout's position change could save his career with the Angels

Mike Trout is one of the greatest players in baseball history. Full stop.

He's won three AL MVP awards. He's been named an All-Star 11 times. He's been worth an astonishing 86.2 bWAR in his career, despite struggling with injuries in every season since 2017. Seriously, take a look at his Baseball Reference page and look at all the bolded categories (indicating that he led the league that season). It's a joke how good Mike Trout is when healthy.

Of course, "when healthy" is a huge stipulation on Trout's profile, as he simply hasn't available all that often in recent seasons. Availability is the best ability, as they say.

Now, Trout is ready to make a move that should hopefully elongate his storied career. It'll deprive him and the Angels of some of his extraordinary value, but it could keep him on the field longer than ever before.

Mike Trout will shift to right field, leaving center field wide open in Los Angeles

Trout announced at Angels spring camp that the plan moving forward is for him to man right field for the Angels. He will be vacating the center field spot he's been manning every year since 2012.

Though he's never won a Gold Glove, much of Trout's value early in his career stemmed from his superlative play in center field. From 2011-17, he was worth 17.3 Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR).

However, the wear and tear of playing such a demanding position has clearly caught up with the all-time great. After playing in at least 114 games in every season from 2012-19, he's hit that mark just once since (119 games in 2022).

Nevertheless, when he's around, he's still one of the best players in baseball. Despite playing in just 266 games since the start of the 2021 season, Trout is slashing .276/.376/.575 (160 OPS+) with 162-game averages of 7.3 bWAR and 46 home runs.

At 33 years old (34 in August) and with six years remaining on his 12-year contract, the Angels naturally want to keep him on the field more often. With Taylor Ward entrenched in left field (and Jorge Soler at designated hitter), Los Angeles will likely try a platoon of Mickey Moniak and Jo Adell in center field for the time being.

Even a healthy Trout probably isn't turning this rebuilding Angels club around. Without Shohei Ohtani supporting him in the lineup, the "other" L.A. team is perilously thin on star power.

However, keeping Trout upright is a worthwhile endeavor. Baseball is better when one it's best players is actually playing. And from the sound of it, Trout aims to reestablish himself among that group in 2025, now as a right fielder.

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