Mickey Moniak should be the Phillies’ everyday CF, no questions asked
By David Esser
Twelve games into the season and one thing has become increasingly clear regarding the state of the Philadelphia Phillies roster.
They have themselves a proper CF problem.
The partnership of Roman Quinn and Adam Haseley are a combined 5-41 at the plate this year (.122 average), and with Haseley potentially done for the rest of the season due to a leave of absence (personal reasons), Quinn became the team’s de-facto everyday starter on Wednesday.
Quinn is currently batting .050. Need I say more?
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Following the Phillies’ disaster plan that was “platooning” the center field position this season, Joe Girardi made a bit of a desperation play by calling up former #1 overall pick Mickey Moniak. Girardi had previously stated that Moniak wouldn’t be a candidate to be on the major league roster this season due to a need for everyday bats, but with Haseley off the team and Quinn an automatic out, the opportunity to play on a daily basis has opened up for the promising young outfielder.
Once viewed as a “bust” by many due to his lackluster first few years in the minor leagues, Moniak has done a fantastic job flipping the narrative surrounding his name over the last couple of months. His MLB debut in 2020 went better than expected, and he showed up to Clearwater as one of the team’s best performing players this spring.
“#WhyNotMick?” has been trending on Twitter for the last few days, a testament to how fond the Phillies fanbase has grown of Moniak.
The young center fielder slashed .273/.385/.727 during Spring Training, blasting two home runs in the process. Moniak’s strong at-bats down in Florida had many calling for him to make the Opening Day roster as the starting center fielder, a move that the Phillies probably would have made in hindsight.
Mickey Moniak needs to be the Phillies’ everyday center fielder moving forward.
While calling up Moniak is a step in the right direction when it comes to fixing the Phillies league-worst CF position, Girardi needs to stay true to his word when it comes to Moniak getting everyday at-bats.
No platooning – Moniak needs to be the outright everyday center fielder, for a couple reasons.
Number one being that it’s hard to imagine Moniak giving the team worse production than what Quinn is doing at the moment. Forget righty/lefty splits or the ability to steal bases, Quinn’s .050 average is unplayable.
Second, it’d be nice if the Phils were able to see what they truly have in Moniak this season. If he’s able to give the team above average production out in center this season, he’d be saving the organization quite a bit of money when next year’s free agency period rolls around. As things currently stand, Dave Dombrowski is probably planning on signing a veteran CF next winter by any means necessary.
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While Girardi and the Phillies might try to “ease” Moniak into the grind of being an everyday starter, this is a situation where that simply might not be necessary. The last time we all saw Mickey play he looked awesome, and the team is desperate for any sort of production out in center field at the moment.
Unless Dombrowski has plans of trading for an established outfielder sometime soon, Moniak should be the team’s everyday option out in center – no questions asked.