Trout to have surgery for nerve issue in foot

Mike Trout had been trying to get back in the lineup, but that plan is over because the Los Angeles Angelsslugger will have foot surgery that will end his season.

The team announced Sunday that Trout will have a thickening of tissue around the nerves in the ball of his right foot -- a condition called Morton's neuroma -- removed later this week.

"I kind of knew when I first got my MRI a few weeks ago that I would probably need surgery at the end of the year to get it removed," Trout said Sunday. "Just got worse. We tried everything. The training staff has been awesome. Some days it would feel good. Some days, once the thing cleared up, it was tough to walk."

Trout was scheduled to fly with the team to New York on Sunday evening for a series with the Yankees that starts Tuesday. He is to return to Los Angeles on Thursday and have surgery later in the week.

"It just didn't get better," Trout said. "It's been that way for a couple weeks. We tried injections, tried the cryoablation [cold fluid] -- thought that would help. As soon as I went out there and started running, it flares up. After it clears up, in about 30-40 minutes, it's tough to walk on."

Trout missed his eighth straight game Sunday but had been testing the foot the past few days to see whether he could get back on the field.

Trout has 104 RBIs and a .291 batting average, putting him in contention to win his third American League MVP award along with four second-place finishes. The 28-year-old outfielder has 110 walks, a .438 on-base percentage and 1.083 OPS in his first season after agreeing to a $426.5 million, 12-year contract, baseball's largest deal by total and average salary.

"It's my mindset coming in ever year, I want to be best player in the league," Trout said. "Ever since I was a kid, that's always been my mindset, just be the best. Thinking about being done when you have two weeks left, it sucks. I was having my best season."

Asked whether he thought he would be able to play if the Angels were in playoff contention, Trout said: "Oh, yeah, for sure. Obviously, if we were in a playoff race, we would try to be out there, even if DHing, or whatever I could do to help the team win."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.