ANAHEIM — At the height of his powers last season, Mickey Moniak was on his way toward an 18-game July hitting streak when he dropped three hits on the New York Yankees with a home run to help pull off a three-game sweep.
That game against the Yankees was one of nine last season when Moniak had at least three hits. He had 20 multi-hit games while barely playing half a season with 85 games for the Angels, his most in parts of four major league seasons to that point.
There was even a five-hit game on June 24 when Moniak had three doubles and a two-run home run against the Colorado Rockies.
Much of that success was less than a year ago yet in some ways it seems so far away from that version of Moniak, the former No.1 overall draft pick by the Philadelphia Phillies in 2016 out of La Costa Canyon High School in Carlsbad.
As Moniak struggles to find just modest success, he has maintained his work ethic and his optimism for a brighter day.
“Right now, obviously I’m not where I want to be,” said Moniak, who was batting .164 with two home runs in 46 games heading into Tuesday night’s game against the San Diego Padres. “Kind of strayed away a little bit from what I did last year and I’m just trying to navigate these new waters of figuring out what works now. At the end of the day, it’s gonna be on me to figure it out.”
Moniak is not alone, though. He works daily with hitting coaches Johnny Washington and Tim Laker. He pours over video to compare last season’s approach with this season’s. And he tries to strike a balance between too much work and regaining that natural approach that made him so good in the first place.
“The main thing when you are going through the type of thing that he is going through is patience,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “It’s being able to trust that if you go back to the fundamentals, you will catch up to where you want to catch up to.
“But this group of young players in this game today, they want results right now. And sometimes, you have to take steps back to move forward. And that has to be the individual.”
As highly regarded as Moniak was, both when he was drafted by the Phillies and when he was acquired by the Angels in 2022 for Noah Syndergaard, his major league experience remains limited. Before his 85 games last season, he had played just 66 games the previous three seasons for the Phillies and Angels.
It meant that he had just 173 games of major league experience – or barely a full season – when Mike Trout went down with a knee injury in late April and he was needed to deliver high-level production.
It has not come to fruition with Moniak going 2 for 28 (.071) over the previous 10 games, before Tuesday.
Covering for Trout’s potential production is a daunting task, but Moniak isn’t making excuses. He is determined to contribute his fair share.
“Struggling like this is not enjoyable and it’s not putting the team in a good situation,” Moniak said. “So I think just taking accountability and working every day to try to get better and put myself in a good situation will put the team in a good situation.
“Just put one foot in front of the other and keep going. It’s a long season. I think we’re 140 at-bats in or so, so hopefully a few hundred more looks a little different.”
GETTING CLOSER
Washington gave a peek into the upcoming rehab schedule of third baseman Anthony Rendon, saying “light” baseball activity could resume as early as Wednesday or maybe Thursday.
Rendon has been on the injured list since April 21 with what was eventually revealed to be a partial tear of his left hamstring.
Since leg work still remains a delicate process, Washington said the first on-field work Rendon will undergo this week will be hand-eye coordination drills by doing glovework from a kneeling position.
HUNTER, OUT GATHERER
Angels right-handed reliever Hunter Strickland has not allowed any of his 10 inherited runners to score and hasn’t allowed an earned run in 19 of 20 outings, heading into Tuesday’s game.
“He’s been able to use his fastball and spot his slider whenever he wants to,” Washington said. “And he’s pulled out a changeup and it’s been effective. So he has three pitches that he can put over the plate.”
Strickland started his second tour of duty with the Angels this season after missing most of 2023 when he was released by the Cincinnati Reds in May while he was at Triple-A Louisville.
UP NEXT
Padres (RHP Dylan Cease, 5-4, 3.42 ERA) at Angels (RHP Jose Soriano, 2-5, 3.86 ERA), Wednesday, 6:38 p.m., Bally Sports West, 830AM
