breath and overall fatigue. He agreed to step aside to undergo medical testing while bench coach Ray Montgomery took over as interim manager starting with last Friday’s game against the Houston Astros.

“He understands what needs to be done (but) I’m not going to go into details; that’s for him to tell if he decides to,” Angels general manager Perry Minasian said before Friday’s game against the Washington Nationals. “But for me, I’m excited for him to do what he needs to do. Forget about the baseball stuff, just get healthy because he’s a great human being. And anybody that’s around him on a daily basis, he’s somebody that you want around, right? So we’re going to miss him.”

Montgomery will continue to be the team’s interim manager after he led the club to a 4-2 record over the past week, including a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox. Infield coach Ryan Goins will be moved into the bench coach role.

Minasian said the team is not planning to add to the coaching staff for now.

The players were updated on Washington’s status during a clubhouse meeting Friday afternoon.

“It’s more than baseball when you hear the news,” catcher Logan O’Hoppe said. “You want to think of the advice he gives you when you’re not feeling so good and can’t play. And we just hope he’s healthy and getting better. I hope this isn’t taken the wrong way, but we don’t care about any of the baseball side of it right now. We hope he’s alright and gets the help he needs.”

With a roster that was trending younger, Washington was brought on board before last season in something of a surprise hire after the team declined to pick up the contract option for previous manager Phil Nevin.

It was a curious partnership, but young players like O’Hoppe, Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel and Jo Adell took to Washington’s folksy approach and boundless energy. Washington proved to be a hands-on manager, immediately instituting an early-morning infield clinic every day during spring training.

Neto and Washington took to each other immediately, despite a nearly 50-year age difference.

“He got me when I was fresh in my first full year,” Neto said. “And I’ve learned a lot. It’s been a lot of ups and downs, but a lot of learning lessons in between those, and just being able to become a man, owning up to my mistakes and just be able to flush it and keep moving on. And I think it’s definitely helped me, especially to where I am today.”

Minasian hired Washington with the hopes that his emphasis on fundamentals, with a no-nonsense style and a penchant for constructive criticism would be a solid fit. After setting a franchise record for losses with a 63-99 season last year, the Angels are 40-40 and have series sweeps over the Dodgers, Red Sox and Athletics (twice) since May 16.

“Doesn’t take any days off, just comes in ready to work,” veteran Mike Trout said of Washington. “He loves his infield work, as you know. But it’s tough to hear news like this. This is bigger than baseball. He’s got to go out there and get things right. And everybody in this clubhouse is praying for him and thinking about him.”

Without getting into details, Minasian said Washington has a solid health prognosis moving forward.

“He’s in good spirits,” Minasian said. “I think there’s peace of mind when you know what you need to get done, right, and when you know what you need to do for him. So we’ve gotten a lot of answers to a lot of questions.”

As for returning to manage the Angels next season, Minasian said “I’m just worried about today.” Washington is in the final year of his original two-year deal. He is 664-611 in 10 seasons as a major league manager, eight with Texas and two with the Angels.

He led the Rangers to back-to-back World Series appearances in 2010 and 2011 before stepping down abruptly in September 2014. Washington returned to the sport as a coach with the then-Oakland A’s and the Atlanta Braves, who won the World Series in 2021, before landing a second managerial job with the Angels.

“You see players in teams take the personality of the manager, and I believe this team has done that this season,” Minasian said. “We’ve been through some ups and downs. We keep fighting every night. It’s a resilient bunch. We play to last out as hard as possible. A majority of credit to that should go to Ron, what he’s instituted here, and what he preaches on a daily basis.”

Also

Angels shortstop Neto was not in the starting lineup for the second consecutive game as he continues to deal with right shoulder soreness.

The Angels already said the injury is not considered serious and have backed up that sentiment by not putting their leadoff man on the injured list. Neto himself said Friday that he feels like he can contribute.

“It’s doing good,” Neto said. “I’m ready to roll. I had the off day (Thursday) ... but if anything happens, or whatnot, hopefully I’ll be the first guy up but we’ll see whatever Ray has in store for me.”

One concern is that Neto has yet to test the shoulder by throwing a baseball.

Neto did pinch hit in the seventh inning Friday with the one out and the tying run on third base but struck out.

Kevin Newman started at shortstop Friday, batting ninth. He was activated from the paternity list during Thursday’s off day, while infielder/outfielder Kyren Paris was optioned back to Triple-A Salt Lake.

Mike Trout said he still has not started working out in the outfield since returning from a bone bruise in his left knee on May 30 and has put his focus on being a designated hitter.

“His focus right now is just staying healthy,” Montgomery said.

Trout was the DH for the 32nd time Friday. His previous high as a DH in any season was 15 games in 2018.