ANAHEIM — The Angels’ challenges since the All-Star break have only intensified as the team placed both utility man Chris Taylor and outfielder Jorge Soler on the injured list Saturday.
At 3-5 since the break, heading into Saturday’s game against the Seattle Mariners, the Angels will have to get back on track without a pair of veterans.
Taylor broke the same bone in his left hand that forced him to miss just shy of seven weeks. He finally returned Monday, only to come away with the same injury when he made a sliding catch on a sinking line drive during the seventh inning of Friday’s game against the Mariners.
“I think anytime you come back from a fracture, there’s always a higher risk of redoing it,” Taylor said Saturday with his hand in a splint. “It’s kind of a freak thing, and really unfortunate that it happened. Honestly hadn’t felt any pain or anything, so I wasn’t even thinking about it. Kind of a weird thing.”
Taylor’s recovery is expected to follow the same timeline as the first time he broke his hand, which means he is still expected to play again this season.
Since signing with the Angels, after he was let go by the Dodgers in May, Taylor was batting .189 with one home run and four RBIs in 15 games (37 at-bats), after he was batting .200 with no home runs and two RBIs in 28 games with the Dodgers (35 at-bats).
“He works hard to get everything back, to get into the point, to help us at this point, so I feel terrible,” Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery said.
For Soler, there is no timetable for return, whose IL move for lower back inflammation is retroactive to Thursday. The 33-year-old still is scheduled for more testing, which is expected to focus on his sciatic nerve.
“It’s frustrating for me because I haven’t performed well and I need to play to perform,” Soler said through an interpreter. “I want to play and put up good numbers and so far, all the issues haven’t let me play.”
Soler is batting .215 in 82 games this season with a .680 OPS that is more than 100 points under his career mark. He has 12 home runs and 34 RBIs.
“There is no good timing to lose those guys,” Montgomery said. “When Soler is right, he’s in the middle of the order helping us. But the guys, they know (the routine). They’ve been doing it all year. Somebody is going to be the next man to step up.”
In corresponding roster moves, infielder Scott Kingery and outfielder Gustavo Campero were recalled from Triple-A.
Kingery was batting .160 in 13 games through June 27 before he was optioned to Salt Lake. He is batting .255 with two home runs and 15 RBIs in 39 games at Triple-A.
Campero was batting .125 with one home run in 18 games with the Angels earlier this season. He is batting .322 with two home runs, 18 RBIs and 11 stolen bases in 36 games at Triple-A.
TAKING A TOLL
With Mike Trout unable to play the outfield for most of the season because of a bone bruise in his left knee, Soler has stepped into the void, although he is paying a price for his unexpected two-way duty.
Soler’s 40 games in the outfield this season have come after he played 46 games in the field last season with the Atlanta Braves and 32 with the Miami Marlins in 2023.
“I haven’t played a lot of outfield in recent years, then coming here, I’m playing there,” Soler said. “It’s tough.”
His willingness to play more outfield than what was expected has been appreciated.
“If you haven’t been out there and it’s later in your career and you’ve taken breaks from that stuff, it’s not easy to do,” Montgomery said. “And I applaud what he did when he was out there, because he was actually very good to my eye, given the circumstance. But it’s not something we can put on him through the end of the year. So we’ve got to figure out something.”
The answer is not as easy as just putting Trout back in the outfield. Trout has worked out in the outfield since the All-Star break but is still dealing with continued knee soreness following workouts on the grass. His movement on the basepaths continues to appear crisp.
“I know the will is there and the want is there,” Montgomery said about Trout’s desire to play in the field. “The body will tell you, ultimately, what you can and can’t do. He’s going to just continue to see what he’s able to do. The biggest thing is that we don’t want to lose what he brings in the (batter’s) box too. So we have to balance that.”
ALSO
Second baseman Christian Moore increased his workout load Saturday as he tries to return from a sprained left thumb, adding more hitting drills after he hit off a tee Friday, while also working out on defense. His time on the IL is approaching four weeks. … Montgomery still is not ready to reveal a starter for Monday’s home game against the Texas Rangers, saying, “We’re definitely going to have one.”
UP NEXT
Angels (RHP Kyle Hendricks 5-7, 4.92 ERA) vs. Mariners (RHP Logan Gilbert, 3-3, 3-07 ERA), Sunday, 1:07 p.m., Roku TV, 830 AM