Mike Frostad
Mike Frostad, 52, enters his 5th season with the Los Angeles Angels as the Director of Sports Medicine and Head Athletic Trainer after spending four seasons as the assistant athletic trainer with the Atlanta Braves. This is Mike’s 15th Major League season, and 31st season overall in professional baseball. He spent 22 seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays, 6 of them as the Major League assistant athletic trainer. A Calgary native, Mike earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Calgary and a Master of Health Science from the University of St. Augustine. He is certified by the NATA in the U.S. and the CATA in Canada. He started his baseball career in 1996 with the St. Catharines Stompers (Short A) and made stops along the way in Medicine Hat Alberta, Hagerstown Maryland, and Dunedin Florida. Mike was named to the position of Minor League Medical Coordinator in 2005, a position he held until the 2010 season when he was appointed to Toronto as the Assistant Athletic Trainer. In 2004 and 2005 he won the Athletic Trainer of the Year Award for the Florida State League. In 2005 he was also the recipient of the Minor League Athletic Trainer of the Year Award. Mike was one of the American League athletic trainer representatives at the 2023 All Star game in Seattle and was a member of the 2021 MLB Athletic Training Staff of the Year in Atlanta that also won the World Series. During the off season, Mike resides in Redcliff, Alberta with his wife, Candice.
Rick Smith
Rick “Ranger Rick” Smith, 72 is beginning his 51st year in professional baseball, all with the Angels organization. Rick gives a great deal of himself to the Angels, but he doesn’t stop there as he regularly donates his time and auction items to the Child Abuse Prevention Center in Orange, Ca. Before his promotion to the Angels’ parent club in 1978, where he served as the Angels’ head athletic trainer from 1979 to 1990, Smith was the head athletic trainer for the Class AA El Paso Diablos. An El Paso, Texas native, Smith was a student athletic trainer for the University of Texas-El Paso Miners’ athletic teams from 1971 until his graduation in 1975 and was inducted into the El Paso Texas Baseball Hall of Fame, in 2007. He served as American League athletic trainer for MLB All-Star Games in 1984, 1989 and 1997. Smith resides in Santa Ana Ca, with his wife Janell.
Eric Munson
Eric Munson, 46, joins the Los Angeles Major League Athletic Training Staff for his 10th season as the Angels Assistant Athletic Trainer after working in the team’s minor league system for 7 seasons and the Minor League Rehab Coordinator for 5. Munson served as the head athletic trainer in AA Arkansas (2008-2010), Rancho Cucamonga (2007), Cedar Rapids (2005, 2006, 2011) and has served as the Minor League Rehab Coordinator based in Tempe (2012-2016). A native of North Dakota, Munson, received his undergraduate degree from North Dakota State University. Eric, his wife Leslie, and daughter Nora reside in Avondale, AZ.
Robert Tarpey
Robert “Bob” Tarpey enters his first season at the Major League level after 20 years working in Minor League Baseball. Most recently, he spent the past two seasons as Director of Minor League Medical for the Los Angeles Angels. Prior to his time with the Angels, Tarpey dedicated 15 years to the Toronto Blue Jays organization, progressing from Rookie-level Pulaski (VA) to Triple-A with the Buffalo Bisons. He joined the New York Mets in 2021, where he worked one season at the Triple-A level in Syracuse before serving two years as the medical coordinator. A native of York, Maine, Tarpey earned his bachelor’s degree in Athletic Training from the University of Maine at Presque Isle in 2003 and completed his master’s degree in Athletic Training at California University of Pennsylvania in 2005. He began his professional career as an Athletic Training intern with the Carolina Mudcats (Double-A, Colorado Rockies) during the 2002 season, followed by a Major League Spring Training internship with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2003. That opportunity ultimately led to his first full-time position with the organization in 2006. Tarpey has received numerous professional honors, including Midwest League Athletic Trainer of the Year in 2008 while with the Lansing Lugnuts and Eastern League Athletic Trainer of the Year in 2014 with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Later that year, he was named Minor League Athletic Trainer of the Year by the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society (PBATS). In 2015, he was selected as the World Team Athletic Trainer for the MLB Futures Game in Cincinnati, Ohio. During the offseason, Tarpey resides in Winthrop, Massachusetts with his wife, Erin, and their 9 year old twins, Brady and Hannah.
Kenji Ito
Kenji Ito returns for his second season as the soft tissue specialist after spending three seasons with Houston and Toronto as Performance Coach and two seasons with Seattle as Physical Trainer. Prior to his career in Major League Baseball, he spent 13 years with Hanshin Tigers of the Nippon Professional Baseball. Ito is certified in both acupuncture treatment and massage therapy from Japan. He and his wife have a daughter.