Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton out for season after knee surgery

Josh Hamilton will not play this season, the Texas Rangers announced Monday.

The outfielder will undergo surgery on his left knee for the third time in nine months. General Manager Jon Daniels said Hamilton hopes to return next season, the last in a five-year, $125-million contract he signed with the Angels.

The Angels traded Hamilton back to Texas in April 2015, paying nearly all of his salary to do so, but he has been hampered by injury. Hamilton will have played 50 of the Rangers’ 306 games from April 27, 2015, the date Texas acquired him from the Angels, through the end of this season.

Hamilton, 35, played for Texas from 2007 to 2011 and was an All-Star each season. He was the American League most valuable player in 2010, when he batted .359 with 32 home runs.

In his two years in Anaheim, he hit .255 with 31 home runs. His 2014 season was limited to 89 games because of thumb surgery and other injuries.

Before the 2015 season, he self-reported a relapse in his battle with drug abuse. An arbitrator ruled he could not be suspended under baseball’s drug policy. Angels owner Arte Moreno took exception to that ruling, and the team traded Hamilton to Texas before he could play another game for the Angels.

bill.shaikin@latimes.com