This story was excerpted from Rhett Bollinger’s Angels Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ANAHEIM -- Angels superstar Mike Trout is continuing to make progress after having surgery to remove his fractured left hamate bone on July 5, as he had his stitches removed on Wednesday and is waiting for the wound to fully heal before he begins baseball activities. 

Trout, who suffered the injury on a swing against the Padres on July 3, said he won’t know an official timeline until he’s cleared to start swinging a bat. Even after having the stitches removed, the area around it remains purple but continues to heal. He’s been doing strengthening exercises every day and had some of the scar tissue shaved off after the surgery. 

“I’m trying to get back as fast as I can,” Trout said. “That’s the main goal. I’m probably driving the training staff crazy right now. I’m here early every day. I’m just waiting for it to heal before I can do anything. It’s just strengthening it and mobility-stuff. And once the cut fully heals, I can start baseball activities.” 

Angels manager Phil Nevin also said there’s not an official timeline just yet, but they’re hopeful he’ll be a fast healer and not suffer any setbacks. The timeline is generally six to eight weeks after the surgery, although Cleveland's José Ramírez returned in four weeks in 2019. 

“He’s doing awesome,” Nevin said. “It’s really as soon as you can grab a bat and feel good taking swings. It’s a pain tolerance thing. You’re not going to injure anything else in there. They are painful and take a bit of time. But he is feeling good.” 

Trout, a three-time AL MVP and 11-time All-Star, has been doing conditioning drills and throwing on the field because the injury is to his non-throwing hand. He said he’s simply doing whatever he can to make it a shorter stint on the 10-day injured list. 

“I’ve been throwing and doing a lot of running,” Trout said. “Just staying in baseball shape, so that when I can start ramping things up, I’ll be ready to go.”

Trout, 31, was hitting .263/.369/.493 with 18 homers, 14 doubles and 44 RBIs in 81 games before sustaining the injury. It wasn't his usual MVP-caliber season but he was heating up before getting hurt, slashing .340/.441/.680 with four homers, three doubles and seven RBIs in his last 14 games before going on the IL.

Ramírez is considered the best case of a player coming back from a hamate fracture, as he had the surgery on Aug. 27, 2019 and returned on Sept. 24. Impressively, he homered twice in his return and again the next day.

Boston’s Yu Chang, however, is an example of it taking longer, as he suffered two setbacks after a hamate fracture suffered on April 24 this season. He didn’t return until July 7, which was more than two months later.

If Trout heals quickly like Ramírez, he could be back in early August, but it’s more likely he’s back in mid-to-late August, barring any setbacks. Getting Trout back would be a major boost for the Angels, who remain in contention after going 6-3 on their nine-game homestand and are 51-49 on the season. They’re four games back of the Blue Jays for the final Wild Card spot.

But outside of getting shut out on Saturday, the offense has continued to fare well even with Trout out, averaging 6.2 runs per game since the All-Star break. And that was despite infielders Brandon Drury and Anthony Rendon also being on the injured list.

“We’re just keeping the line moving, it’s next man up,” said veteran infielder Mike Moustakas. “Obviously, we're missing some great players right now but injuries happen and we have to find ways to cover for them. And just keep going until we’re back at full strength. Everybody has been doing their job and it’s been a lot of fun.”