MLB All-Star Game updates: Pete Alonso shares the secret of derby success

Angels star Mike Trout has been put on the 10-day injured list with left rib-cage inflammation, retroactive to July 15.

“It is frustrating for sure because … I can't really pinpoint what caused it,” Trout said during the All-Star Game media availability Monday. “It just started bothering me and just one of them things, unfortunately.

“It was getting better,” Trout said, “and then once I started swinging again, it kind of acted up.

Trout described the issue as being joint inflammation in his ribs that showed up in tests after he first started feeling something. He did not seem too worried about the nature of the injury, saying it’s not as serious as the calf strain that ended his 2021 season early.

Trout hopes the lengthy All-Star break will afford him time to let the inflammation heal.

He will be eligible to return during the team’s next series in Atlanta.

Trout had been dealing with what the team previously described as upper-back spasms.

Last week, Trout said that he was feeling the issue deeper, near his ribs.

Trout first started feeling soreness in his upper back when the Angels were playing the Miami Marlins two weeks ago.

He missed four consecutive games last week because of the issue. He was initially supposed to start Saturday night against the Dodgers but was scratched shortly before the first pitch after the issue flared up.

After that game, he decided to sleep on his decision not to play in the All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, in case his back started feeling better. He ultimately decided it was best not to play.

Mike Trout to play in World Baseball Classic

Tony Reagins, the U.S. general manager for the World Baseball Classic, said Trout will serve as team captain in the World Baseball Classic in March 2023.

“It means a lot,” Trout said. “I missed the opportunity the first time, and I knew this was a chance I can't miss.”

Reagins, who drafted Trout during his tenure as Angels GM, said Trout was the first person he called when he started assembling the team.

“I know who he is as a player, as a human being,” Reagins said. “I know how he's going to represent our country, which is why we're doing this. And I know he knows guys too. We've already had some good conversations.

“There's nobody better to be in the foxhole with.”

Another All-Star who revealed he wants play in the WBC in 2023 and has been having discussions about joining Team Canada: Freddie Freeman.

Pete Alonso excited for Home Run Derby

New York Mets slugger and two-time defending home run derby champion Pete Alonso is fired up for Monday’s derby, an eight-man event that will tee off at 5 p.m. in Dodger Stadium and be televised by ESPN.

“It’s gonna be electric,” Alonso said earlier Monday. “I mean, Dodger Stadium is a great place to play. It’s going to be a packed house, and I think competing in front of a bunch of people is going to be really special. So, I just want to stay within myself and go out there and leave it all out there.”

Alonso won the 2019 derby in Cleveland with a thrilling 23-22 final-round win over Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The All-Star Game was canceled during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Alonso hit 35 homers in the first round of last summer’s derby in Colorado before beating Trey Mancini 23-22 in the finals.

“The biggest thing is being relaxed and allowing myself to perform,” Alonso, who will face Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna Jr. in Monday’s first round, said of his derby success. “That's it. I think being in a relaxed but aggressive state of mind is pretty much the key.”

It doesn’t help to have a not-so-secret weapon in Dave Jauss, the 65-year-old coach who threw to Alonso in last year’s derby and is considered one of baseball’s best batting-practice pitchers.

“He was putting it right in the breadbasket, right in the honey hole, right in the sweet spot of my swing,” Alonso said of Jauss after last summer’s derby. “That’s what we worked on in practice.”

Jauss, who played college ball at Amherst, has always had a knack for consistently grooving hittable pitches.

“I don’t throw hard,” he said last year, “but I can close my eyes and hit a spot.”

Jauss was the Mets bench coach in 2021 but took a job with the Washington Nationals this season. Being employed by another team was hardly a deterrent in Alonso securing Jauss’ services for the derby.

“I had to yank his arm,” Alonso joked. “No … as soon as I called and asked him, he was like, ‘Oh, absolutely!’ I think he's really juiced up to do it.”

Max Fried wishes he could pitch in All-Star Game

Tuesday night’s All-Star Game will be the first at Dodger Stadium since 1980, and while it might not be another 42 years before Los Angeles hosts the game, it is likely the only chance Atlanta Braves left-hander and Santa Monica native Max Fried had of pitching in a Midsummer Classic in his hometown.

Which makes the fact Fried won’t be available to play for the National League team after he threw seven innings and 94 pitches in Atlanta’s 6-3 victory over the Washington Nationals on Saturday a bit disappointing.

Fried, a former Studio City Harvard-Westlake High star who was a first-round pick of the San Diego Padres in 2012, made his first All-Star team by going 10-3 with a 2.64 ERA in 19 starts, striking out 109 and walking 22 in 119 1/3 innings.

“I think it would have been awesome, but just knowing that I have threw a couple of days ago, it just didn't make the most sense to push myself,” Fried, 28, said. “It was kind of a big-picture thing, but I'm excited to be here and experience it.

“There's a big part of me that would love to go out there and compete and face some of the best players in the world, but it's definitely not a bad alternative.”

Mike Trout still taking in All-Star experience

Trout was not obligated to participate in the All-Star Game media availability Monday after the 10-time All-Star was put on the 10-day injured list because of left rib cage inflammation earlier in the morning.

But the Angels center fielder and three-time American League most valuable player didn’t think twice about spending 30 minutes or so under a scorching sun to speak to reporters at Dodger Stadium, and he will be on the field for the Home Run Derby on Monday night.

“The fans voted me in, and they're spending their hard-earned money for tickets, which are expensive,” Trout said. “So to be able to be here and interact with the fans as much as I can, it means a lot to them. It means a lot to me.

“And obviously, this will be my first time bringing my [2-year-old son Beckham] onto the field. I think that's a special moment for me. I look forward to it.”

In other MLB All-Star Game-related news:

• Clayton Kershaw will be the starting pitcher for the National League in this year’s All-Star Game, Major League Baseball announced during a Monday morning news conference at Dodger Stadium, giving the Dodgers left-hander his first career start in a Midsummer Classic. “Now that it’s finally here and I get to start that game tomorrow night, it means a lot,” Kershaw said, adding with a laugh: “Hopefully I don’t screw it up too bad.” Read more >>>

• Angels star Shohei Ohtani, who is slated to lead off the All-Star Game for the American League opposite Kershaw, said he will not pitch in the game.

• Players on the field for tonight's MLB Home Run Derby at Dodger Stadium will have the best seat in the house — literally.

• Meanwhile, it appears teammates, er, former teammates Trea Turner and Juan Soto were getting along just fine at Dodger Stadium on Monday. Soto reportedly is on the trade block, and it's anyone's guess where he might end up.

• Remember: if the All-Star Game on Tuesday is tied after nine innings, a home run derby will used to determine the winner. Each league will use three hitters who will get three swings apiece.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.