A Career Revival For A Former Draft Bust
Photo courtesy of Bill Streicher | USA Today Sports
The Los Angeles Angels have been constantly plagued by a complete lack of a supporting cast for their two superstars: Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. The two generational talents continue to put forth MVP and All-Star-caliber years while failing to make the playoffs or even come close to any October action.
With nagging injuries affecting the day-to-day lineups of the Halos, one player has had a break-out season, and looks to continue to to perform at a high level for an Angels team that needs it during the absence of Mike Trout.
Mickey Moniak has looked like the player he was projected to be when he was drafted in 2016, and this break-out season is showing the star-power the young outfielder possesses and could be a sign for his career revival beginning in Los Angeles.
2016-2022
Moniak was drafted first overall out of high school to the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2016 MLB Draft. The young outfielder had been named Baseball America’s High School Player of the Year after putting up videogame-like numbers in his senior year at La Costa Canyon High School in California.
Photo courtesy of Matt Slocum | Associated Press
The number-one overall pick struggled early on in his minor league career. From 2016-2019, Moniak never saw a call-up in the middle of the season and only progressed one minor league level per season. For his first four seasons in the Phillies’ farm system, the outfielder put up a mediocre slash line of .260/.308/.393 with an OPS of .701.
Moniak’s high strikeout to walk rate hurt his development in the minors, and he had major difficulty adjusting to the pitching at the minor league level.
In 2020, Moniak made the Phillies’ 40-man roster and would make his major league debut the same season. In eight games of major-league action, Moniak put up a slash line of .214/.389/.214 and was considered a below average hitter by OPS+ standards.
Moniak’s struggles with the Phillies continued, as his 2021 campaign was the worst of his career, logging a .091 batting average in 21 games with the team. The time was ticking on the number-one overall pick, and experts and MLB writers alike were starting to label Moniak as a bust.
Eventually, in 2022, after Moniak suffered a right hand fracture in an exhibition game, the Phillies traded Moniak and prospect Jadiel Sanchez to the Los Angeles Angels for aging veteran pitcher Noah Syndergaard.
A slew of injuries sidelined the majority of his 2022 stint with the Angels, and Moniak was optioned to Triple-A to start the 2023 season after only playing 19 games with his new club.
2023
Moniak immediately saw a break out in Triple-A with the Salt Lake Bees. The outfielder cracked a .300 batting average in 33 games with the club and had a .939 OPS, the highest he had in a 40 game sample at any level of major or minor league baseball. His strikeout rate dropped, and was eventually received the call-up to the majors in May.
The California native hasn’t looked back since.
Moniak opened his 2023 season with a lead-off home run against the Cleveland Guardians and has continued to rake. In the 40 games he has played since his call-up, Moniak has posted a slash line of .329/.356/.643 with a .999 OPS. His slugging has almost doubled from previous years, as he has slugged 10 home runs, driven in 29 runs and has dropped his strikeout rate at the major league level.
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For the 37 games Moniak played in 2022 with both the Angels and Phillies, he struck out close to 41% of the times he was at-bat. In comparison, Moniak’s “K” rate has dropped astoundingly for 2023, sitting at 32% at the time of this article.
Moniak himself attributed self-confidence and perseverance to his break-out with the club this year, and appears to be adjusting to the difficulties of MLB pitching better than he has in previous years. He has a more relaxed swing, and has made similar adjustments to a fellow slumping prospect in Seattle: Jarred Kelenic.
His OPS+ at 166 suggests that Moniak has been 66% better than the league average hitter for 2023, making him the 2nd best hitter by that metric on the Angels this year, only behind MVP-favorite Shohei Ohtani.
In addition to his incredible offensive outburst, Moniak also displays versatility and defensive prowess to the club, playing each outfield position and attributing 2 OAA (outs-above-average) on the season so far. His excellent speed allows for an extended range of fielding in the outfield, and his ability to play each outfield position makes him a valuable piece to the Halos’ offense and lineup structure.
Moniak currently boasts a 2.2 WAR in his 40 games of action, good enough for 3rd on the team behind Ohtani and Trout. It’s safe to say that the former number-one overall pick has certainly put the pieces together and begun to live up to the high expectations a lottery pick comes with.
Although Moniak's 40 games of action in 2023 is a smaller sample size compared to the full 91 games of the first half of the MLB season, his production has been excellent. Trout's injury report estimates him to be sidelined for four to eight weeks, so Moniak should see more playing time to improve and potentially earn himself a consistent spot in the outfield rotation for future years.
However, for now, amidst all speculation, fans should only appreciate that the "bust" label could be lifted off Moniak's back as he continues to have an excellent 2023 season.
