Angels’ Mike Trout drops Jackie Robinson Day message after epic clutch performance vs Rays

Major League Baseball marked the 77th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the sport’s color barrier on Monday.

Robinson started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, beginning the end of the racial segregation that had relegated Black players to the Negro Leagues for decades.

Members of Robinson’s family, including his 101-year-old widow, were at ballparks from coast-to-coast to honor him.

At Citi Field, Rachel Robinson rode in a golf cart to the Mets dugout, where she was given flowers by manager Carlos Mendoza, and retired players Mookie Wilson and Butch Huskey, the last Mets player to wear Robinson’s No. 42.

Every team playing Monday wore No. 42 jerseys.

Mike Trout and the Angels in 2024

Trout has looked fantastic to start the 2024 season for the Angels. After dealing with nagging injuries recently, Trout is back to blasting baseballs into the stratosphere with regularity.

However, if there were any hope that the Angels were either ready to contend now or at least within a year or two once the pieces fell into place, it would be entirely excusable for both sides to try and stick it out. But despite a 6-6 start, the roster is in a very bad spot and there isn’t much hope for it to improve.

This year’s Angels team was supposed to be the year the young, talented position players flourished with Trout as their tour guide, the superstar shouldering the burden in the middle of the lineup while the rest took advantage of the opposing pitchers’ mistakes. But, as is a familiar story, Trout is the only one doing the hitting.

With the Angels’ lineup issues, not to mention the team’s seeming inability to develop homegrown starting pitching, the calls are getting louder for the team to look at potentially moving Trout in a trade.

Angels owner Arte Moreno appears to be in a constant fear of rebuilding, but also hasn’t been willing to spend over the luxury tax to field a legitimate contender. With two of the top five salaries in MLB on his roster, that has left him unwilling to spend top dollar on free agents the past couple off seasons that could have pushed the Angels towards becoming contenders in the American League.

In the meantime, all Trout can do is continue to mash and wait to see what happens.