SAN DIEGO -- The first day of a mostly ill-fated series at Petco Park, Rockies outfielder Mickey Moniak had two baseball bats -- one pink, one blue -- leaned against a wall near his locker. Was this a reveal? Were congratulations in order?
“You’re about the fourth person to ask that,” said Moniak, who explained that those were just Father’s Day/Mother’s Day custom models.
With the Rockies playing near his offseason home, he just brought a few items back.
No mystery there. And if all goes as expected after the season, there will be no mystery about Moniak’s baseball home next season.
Moniak’s fourth-inning solo home run off Yu Darvish and sixth-inning three-run homer off Jeremiah Estrada on a career-high five-RBI day gave the Rockies a chance in their 9-6 loss to the contending Padres, who took three of four games in the series.
Signed just before Opening Day, Moniak has given the Rockies solid offense and usefulness at all three outfield positions.
“I’ve seen the ball well and was able to jump on two good pitches to hit, put good swings on them,” said the 27-year-old Moniak, who increased his career-best season totals to 21 homers and 62 RBIs.
When the season ends, Moniak will be eligible for salary arbitration for the second time in his career. This one should be much simpler than last.
“I got a crash course in arbitration the first year,” Moniak said.
Chosen first overall by the Phillies in the 2016 MLB Draft out of La Costa Canyon High School in Carlsbad, Calif., Moniak debuted in 2020 and was dealt to the Angels at the 2022 Trade Deadline as the Phils acquired pitcher Noah Syndergaard. Moniak hit .280 for the Angels in 85 games in 2023, but dropped to .219 in 124 games last season.
Moniak and the Angels couldn’t reach an accord, so his arbitration case went to a hearing -- an uncomfortable event with Moniak and his representation on one side and the Angels on the other, in front of a three-person panel. The situation has the potential for hard feelings.
“You know, obviously, if you can avoid an arbitration hearing,” Moniak said. “But if you have to go through it, it’s a good experience. You learn the business side of the game. You sit in a room as they discuss your abilities and your career. I got a front-row seat of what the Angels really thought about me at the time. And you try not to take things personally. You can’t because that’s the team you’re going to be with.
“It's just like a debate -- just that you're watching stuff unfold in real time.”
It turned out Moniak was already working on his rebuttal.
Moniak sustained a right ankle sprain in November 2023, then fouled a pitch off the ankle the first week of the ’24 season. He played hurt the whole time. As a left-handed hitter, Moniak had been working around pain in his stride leg. But thrice-weekly physical therapy sessions as the offseason began improved the ankle and allowed him to continue a project to improve the swing.
“In the offseason, you take so many swings that if you want to make changes, that’s the time to do it,” Moniak said. “The last few years, really before the 2023 season, I made a big change in my swing just to have a cleaner path and stay through the zone a little bit longer.”
Moniak won the arbitration case and a $2 million salary for ’25. But the Angels released him in Spring Training and escaped all but about $484,000. However, the Rockies signed him for $1.734 million.
Sunday was the latest display of how health and internalized swing mechanics have buoyed Moniak.
Proceedings looked doleful through three innings, when the Rockies fell behind, 7-0. Rockies starter Germán Márquez yielded Jackson Merrill’s three-run homer in the second inning but many of the hits were along the ground. Then it became Moniak’s game.
Moniak, who also stole two bases, added an RBI single in the seventh off Adrian Morejon to cut the difference to 7-6, before Gavin Sheets knocked a two-out, two-run double off Rockies reliever Jimmy Herget in the eighth.
“He got us not singlehandedly -- but pretty close -- back in that ballgame,” Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer said.
Added Márquez: “I feel happy to see that guy have days like that, because he’s a hard worker.”