The Phillies are set to call up former No. 1 overall draft pick Mickey Moniak, per Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia (Twitter link). It’ll be the Major League debut for the 22-year-old outfielder.
Moniak wasn’t initially included in the Phillies’ 60-man player pool to begin the shortened season, but he was added shortly before the trade deadline. Now, with Kyle Garlick sustaining an apparent oblique injury, Moniak join the club for his first taste of the Majors. He spent the 2019 season in Double-A, where he posted a .252/.303/.439 batting line. Those numbers don’t immediately stand out, but in the pitcher-friendly Eastern League, that was actually 15 percent better than the league average (115 wRC+). Moniak connected on 11 home runs and piled up extra-base hits, adding 28 doubles and 13 triples to his ledger. He also swiped 15 bases in 18 tries.
Solid 2019 output notwithstanding, it’s also fair to say that Moniak’s career to date hasn’t quite gone as the Phillies would’ve hoped when taking him with the top overall pick. That’s not to say that he’s not a legitimate prospect — he ranks ninth among Phillies prospects at FanGraphs, 12th at Baseball America and 13th at MLB.com — but fair or not, the expectations for any top overall pick are understandably sky-high.
Moniak may not rank within the game’s top 100 prospects or even within his own club’s top 10 on some lists, but he’ll now be afforded the opportunity to prove his doubters wrong and establish himself as a piece of the Phillies’ future. He’ll join an outfield mix that features Bryce Harper, Adam Haseley, Roman Quinn, Andrew McCutchen ad Phil Gosselin, giving the clubs another left-handed bat capable of playing any of the three outfield spots.
As it stands, the Phillies will be able to control Moniak through at least the 2026 season, although that timeline could be altered depending on future optional assignments. The Phillies will need to make a move to select Moniak’s contract, as he’s not currently on the team’s 40-man roster.
Hes probably a decent enough 5th OFer
He’s also 22 years old. Maybe he isn’t an early bloomer like Bryce Harper, but relegating a talented player to “5th outfielder” is a bit harsh. I’ll bet 25 year old Mickey Moniak is in the everyday lineup.
Scouts are souring on him in CF and he had a .277 OBP against LHP in AA last year. Not saying hes a bust, but yeah.. age is the only thing you can really point to that suggests he might be a good regular
The last time I checked, scouts were not perfect and neither were prospect rankings. The guy is getting his chance, so let’s see what he can do rather than condemning him because he didn’t get enough minor league hits.
Ahh. The Phillies compensation for being the worst team in 2015.
Not ideal for a 1-1 pick
Phillies Fans in 2016: Mark Appel and Mickey Moniak, the future of the Phillies
Oh and Nick Williams and JP Crawford lol
Appel doesnt belong in that group
Perfect example on how most prospects don’t pan out
OUCH dixon — u not wrong–maybe MM can show some chops
I hope MM breaks out, it’s hard seeing a number 1 pick flop (for Moniaks sake, not for the Phils. They can sink to last for all I care).
So Moniak was #1 overall and a year later haseley went #8 overall. Both are major leaguers and still young but probably not close to star upside considering their high draft status.
Haseley was picked 1 selction before Hiura. 2015-17 was a bad strectch for their 1st round picks and thats putting it nicely.
i dont know what people dont like about Haseley. he’s got tons of defensive ability and has already shown he can hit in the Majors despite being rushed up from AAA. get the guy some regular at bats and you wolnt be too sad ahout Hiura (who they probably wouldnt have drafted anyway because of Kingery)
If “MM” was named Joe Smith and a 10th round draft choice, he’d be serving lattes at your neighborhood Starbucks by now.
Yeah, and if he were named Tiffany Dixon, he might very be a waitress at your local Applebee’s. But he’s not, so what is the point of this?
The point is hes only well regarded bcuz he was a high draft pick, not because he did well
He was a high draft pick because he did well.
If only Mickey’s defense was half as good as your’s of him. Calm down. A teenager won the lottery.
“A teenager won the lottery”
So Phillies GM & Scouting Experts are incompetent. Got it
i cant imagine Moniak will look great right off the bat, but he’s still very young and has never repeated a level, so i think he could still be a productive player for this team. time to stop caring about 1-1 and realize that that’s water under the bridge now.
IE Dansby Swanson he looked terrible in the majors as a 1/1 he’s gradually improved to being a decent enough regular. I have faith in MM there is a lot of pressure in being #1 overall
It is absolutely ridiculous that people are calling this guy a huge bust before his first game. Who cares what his numbers in AA were? Nobody ever remembers whether you hit .200 or .400 in AA. Those leagues are mainly just for development, not for stats. Give the guy a chance.
Come on man, you’re acting like what he did (or didn’t do, in this case) in the minors matters absolutely nothing and is no way indictive to the type of player he is.
He’s had enough time in the minors to start assessing his future.
No, you shouldn’t just discard a 22 year old number one pick, but it’s ridiculous to say what he’s done in the minors doesn’t matter at all.
That’s your opinion. Mine is different.
Different, and wrong ;).
Spot on Hiflew.
He’s 22 breaking the bigs. That’s an accomplishment ! And impressive.
Prospect rankings are for noobs
Good for Moniak… He’ll hold his own D wise… His bat we’ll see.. He still made one of the greatest over the shoulder Willie Mays-esqu catches ever at the Area Code Games in Long Beach… Maybe cemented his 1/1 status..
Soxprospect.com has 37 years of Red Sox draft history and it is surprisingly how few players every play even a single game in the MLB (as a base of reference for most organizations like the Phillies). The number who actually have meaningful careers and make even a descent amount of money is tiny (about 3 percent of those drafted or international free agents)…..Moniak was a senior at LaCosta Canyon High School while my son was there….I hope he saved a good portion of the $6.1 million signing bonus just in case his MLB career does not last as long as hoped for.
Cut Mickey a break, folks. How bad could he be?
Bubba Starling bad? I guess he’s got Bubba beat in the time-line department.
Moniak reaching the mlb at 22 is really good. Draft position is really gambling. How does any team know how good an 18 year old kid playing against high school competition will be? Not everyone is Mike Trout or Mookie Betts….
For perspective from 1965 to 2015 (50 first picks in the draft) the Red Sox had 34 of 50 picks make it to the mlb (played at least 1 game), so 32 percent never even made the mlb (of course the Red Sox never had a single first round first pick, the perspective is interest in that you would think most first round picks should at least make the mlb even if not in the starting lineup. Over half of the 34 who made the mlb were cup of coffee / utility types. Just making the mlb is exceedingly difficult let alone staying there and being successful….
There’s a big difference between picking someone number one and someone 25. 2020-1965 the Red Sox have only picked in the top ten seven times if I counted right. When you pick someone number one overall you are expecting at the VERY least that they become an average starter. It’s not the same as picking ten, or 20, or 40.
Pitcher friendly Eastern League?! We’re talking about First Energy Stadium of the Reading Fightin’ Phils, the most hitter friendly ballpark in ballpark history. A ballpark that made Domonic Brown and Darin Ruf look like future all stars, just to name two egregious busts. And Moniak barely managed a .300 on-base percentage there. 11 home runs?! Ruf set a world record for homers in a calendar year based largely on the dingers he hit there. Give me a break. Stop giving this scrub a pass. He was a terrible pick. He was the flavor of the week. A terrible pick! I laugh every time Kyle Lewis makes the highlight reel. Or insert whatever name from that great draft round you like. Stupid Phils just can’t admit they were wrong and cut bait.
Pitcher friendly Eastern League?! We’re talking about First Energy Stadium of the Reading Fightin’ Phils, the most hitter friendly ballpark in ballpark history. A ballpark that made Domonic Brown and Darin Ruf look like future all stars, just to name two egregious busts. And Moniak barely managed a .300 on-base percentage there. 11 home runs?! Ruf set a world record for homers in a calendar year based largely on the dingers he hit there. Give me a break. Stop giving this scrub a pass. He was a terrible pick. He was the flavor of the week. A terrible pick! I laugh every time Kyle Lewis makes the highlight reel. Or insert whatever name from that great draft round you like. Stupid Phils just can’t admit they were wrong and cut bait.
I know I’ll catch flak because he wasn’t first overall (Rd 1, 23), but Google Brandon Woods’ minor league stats. Sometime minor league stats ARE meaningless.
Wow…that is an interesting career. 175 minor league dingers to just 18 in the major’s (700 mlb at bats)
Baseball is such a challenging sport to master, with so many nuances and details…I’m in my forties and my memory of what.how I was when I was 18/19/20 is hazy at best. I’m sure I was just barely human and able to “keep it together” , as my college transcripts read like someone with a future in being the Town Idiot.
Can’t imagine being given 6 million bucks and then thrust into professional life against grown men.
I’m pulling for the kid….maybe he’ll give us some insane shot in the arm?? Baseball’s weird, you just never know.
Would have been Rule 5 eligible this offseason. Guess they have nothing to lose by letting the kid show what he’s made of at the game’s highest level.
I think Moniak will improve. He isn’t a bust, I just think he’s the victim of media giving fans lofty expectations. Multiple articles said he would be a middle of the order bat that will hit for average and have gold glove defense in centerfield. I remember Jim Salisbury said that there was nothing negative with the pick and the only question is how many homer is will he hit when he fills out.
Those are lofty expectations and when fans see his lines in the minors they are quick to think bust. The dude is 22, there’s a lot of space in between being Acuna/Soto/Robert and being Tim Beckham or Bryan Bullington. I’m reserving judgement at least until he hits the quarter century mark.