During the second inning of the Los Angeles Angels' 4-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday, a controversial incident occurred where a fan interfered with Mike Trout catching a foul ball near the right field foul line wall. That is, the fan reached over and actually made an effort to dislodge the ball from the 3x MVP's glove.
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An Astros fan ripped the ball out of Mike Trout's glove. Umpires ruled it a foul ball pic.twitter.com/QerDoLzy4H
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 12, 2025
An aggravated Trout instantly looked to the first base umpire and pleaded his case for fan interference to be called, however, it was ruled as a foul ball. And this allowed Astros hitter Yainer Diaz to stay in the batter's box with a 2-1 count. Ultimately, not calling fan interference did not change the outcome of the game, as Diaz then proceeded to fly out anyways.
To point out, this play was eerily similar to what occurred in Game 4 of the 2024 World Series when a couple of New York Yankees fans got in the way of LA Dodgers' Mookie Betts securing a catch on a foul ball.
New York Yankees fan tries to take the ball out of Mookie Betts’ glove#WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/TVeDrE9rC7
— Highlight Vault (@HighlightVault) October 30, 2024
In view of what recently occurred at Daikan Park, the fan, who has now been identified as Jared Whalen, spoke on the incident after the game.
"I just didn't know what was going on," Whalen said (via The Athletic). "I didn't realize it was a play, it was coming at my son's face. I just reached out."
I really don’t think that fan meant to interfere with Trout. As a fan that adrenaline hits fast when the ball gets hits near you I kinda feel bad for him and his kid but it should’ve still been an interference pic.twitter.com/C4kdD0zhNU
— On Deck on YT🪽 (@YT_OnDeck) April 13, 2025
"I was more looking at the ball coming for my son's face," he continued. "I made sure I wasn't in the field of play... I apologized, and [Trout] nodded his head, and we're good, I think."
Certainly it appears Trout forgave all of this, as he met up with Whalen and his son after the game to take pictures and sign autographs.
UPDATE: Mike Trout has now met with the fan and his son, after the earlier (debatable) fan interference incident. What a fantastic thing to do. This guy is full of class. https://t.co/EHdqEs42Xx pic.twitter.com/01VbWsxy6G
— Dan Clark (@DanClarkSports) April 13, 2025
