Mickey Moniak Picking up Right Where He Left Off

It was a very good initial offseason for the Rockies’ President of Baseball Operations, Paul DePodesta. Bringing back Moniak is already paying dividends, especially at an absolute bargain for the 28-year-old at $4 million guaranteed this season, per Spotrac. Depending on how this season goes, the Rockies have to seriously think about extending Moniak. It has been a large enough sample size to see the immense impact he has offensively for a Rockies team that sorely needs it.

Another Potential Career Year in Store for Moniak?

It’s early, we are only 16 games into the marathon that is a 162-game season. But Moniak is showing the signs of another breakout season so far. He is in the 96th percentile in both batting run value (seven) and xSLG (.600) per Statcast. His current Pull Air% of 30.8 would be a career high by a significant margin. Meanwhile, he is hitting balls on the ground just 11.5% to the pull side. A lot of that success has come with Moniak seeing the fastball extraordinarily well right now.

He is hitting .368 against the fastball with a stellar .SLG of .842. Additionally, he is only whiffing 9.1% of the time in 20 plate appearances against a fastball this season. Last year, in 231 plate appearances against a fastball, he hit .308 with a whiff% of 22.9. Moniak’s latest home run was his 29th career home run as a member of the Rockies. Surpassing his 28 home runs in the previous two seasons with the Los Angeles Angels in 244 fewer at-bats. Safe to say it’s been a perfect marriage between Coors Field and Moniak.

In 234 home at-bats last season, he hit .303/.348/.598 with an unbelievable .946 OPS. He also hit five triples, 14 doubles, 15 home runs, and 46 RBI. But even with another possible stellar career year ahead, the Rockies will still finish with nearly 100 losses if Moniak does not start getting more help on offense.

Moniak Needs Help

The Rockies were turning heads following their three-game sweep of the Houston Astros from April 6-8. The offense looked strong, the pitching was stellar, and the Rockies were 6-6 and tied for second in the National League West. Following a four-game sweep at the hands of the Padres, the Rockies are 6-10 and tied for last in the NL West with the San Francisco Giants. The first two games were heartbreakers, both won by the Padres on walk-off home runs. The third game saw the Rockies blow a 4-0 lead that was largely in thanks to two Moniak homers off of old friend German Marquez. The Rockies ended up losing 9-5.

To be fair to the rest of the Rockies’ lineup, Moniak did not record a hit in the other three games in San Diego. But by and large, this season, Moniak has been the most consistent producer for the Rockies’ offense. If he struggles to begin the Houston series starting on Tuesday, April 14, the Rockies lineup will have to pick him up. Hunter Goodman has been solid early for the Rockies, as have been newcomers Edouard Julien and TJ Rumfield. On the other side of the spectrum, Brenton Doyle’s struggles have carried over from last season. He is hitting just .174 and is currently in the bottom three percent of Major League Baseball with a 37.3% K rate per Statcast. Jordan Beck is off to an ice-cold 3-30 start following an encouraging offensive season last year.

Invaluable to the Rockies Offense

Nothing illustrates Moniak’s value to the Rockies’ offense more than Weighted Runs Created +. A 100 WRC+, for example, is a league-average hitter. Every point of wRC+ above or below 100 is equal to one percentage point above or below average. WRC+ also accounts for ballpark and ERA. With that being said, among Rockies that have played in at least 10 games, Moniak has a 152 WRC+. Rumfield (123), Julien (121), and Troy Johnston (113) are the only other Rockies above 100. The Rockies are 28th in WRC+ overall with a total WRC+ of 78. Last year, among Rockies that played in 100+ games, Moniak (110) and Goodman (118) were the only Rockies over 100.

For the Rockies’ sake, hopefully the offense turns the corner in Houston. Because a four-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers is waiting for them after. The Rockies can’t afford to suffer another series sweep on the road before then. If they go into the Los Angeles series at 6-13, it may be a rut that will be too big for the Rockies to climb out of. The Rockies’ offense has never been reliable on the road. But they will be facing an Astros team that will either be on an eight-game losing streak or a team that has lost seven of eight. The opportunity will be there for Moniak and the Rockies to turn around this road trip.