The Chatter’s Box: Mickey Moniak Talks to the Rockies Insider

Two days before Opening Day, Mickey Moniak was suddenly without a job and a team for the first time since he was 18 years old in high school. 

Released by the Los Angeles Angels following one promising and one poor season, Moniak received a lifeline from the Colorado Rockies.

The first overall pick in the 2016 MLB Draft flew directly from Phoenix to Tampa for Opening Day without spending a day at the team’s spring facility at Salt River Fields. Just like that, he was a Rockie, even if his outfield mitt was Angels red.

Moniak played in 55 of the first 61 games of the season through June 3, batting .212 with a modest .647 OPS. From that point on, he’s been one of the better offensive players in the National League. His .924 OPS is fifth-best in the Senior Circuit since June 6, while his .303 batting average is tied for fifth-best. 

Not bad for a last-minute pickup.

One thing the Rockies also received in Moniak is a young leader. The oldest everyday player for the club and the one with the most service time has done well to help Colorado improve notably since winning their first series in early June. 

“Mickey has a great personality for leadership, in terms of he shows up every day with a positive attitude. He gets guys going good. He’s part of the life in the clubhouse,” manager Warren Schaefer said of the 27-year-old.

Welcome to The Chatter’s Box, a new Just Baseball series from Patrick Lyons. Because post-game media availability is focused entirely on the details of the previous nine innings, the conversations that take place in the clubhouse or during batting practice before a contest can take on a much more relaxed and jovial tone.

The following is a conversation from August 31, before the Rockies-Cubs game when Moniak became the fourth player in Rockies history to hit a walk-off triple.

Patrick Lyons: Do you have moments where you think back about how wild the start of your season was? Going from the Angels to the Rockies in seemingly an instant?

Mickey Moniak: I think I’ll be able to reflect on it here in a month. But once you get to spring training, once you get into the season, everything’s just one day at a time. You’re so focused on what you need to do that given day, focused on who you’re facing that day, what team you’re playing, what I got to do to get my body right, what do I got to do to make sure my swing’s in a good spot, make sure I’m taking my outfield reps. There’s so much to do in a day that I think that it’s a journey. Throughout my journey has been – it’s been a crazy one, I would say, for the most part. Getting traded, getting released, coming here. I was kind of used to the chaos, but I think that’s something you kind of reflect on once the year ends.

Lyons: It probably feels like you’ve got a whole year under your belt with Colorado at this point. But correct me if I’m wrong: You didn’t get to report to camp at Salt River Field, right? You haven’t actually done the Spring Training part with this team yet, right?

Moniak: No, I reported straight to Tampa. I got there the night before the first workout, and then the next day was Opening Day, and it was right into it. So, next spring training, I’ll have a pretty good idea just going in, just because the day-to-day here during the season is relatively similar. Obviously, we’re doing a little bit more in spring training, stuff to knock the rust off, get ready for the season. But I’m looking forward to it. I played at Salt River in the Arizona Fall League in 2019 on the Diamondback side. I’m familiar with the area. This will be my fourth Arizona spring. It’ll be good. 

Lyons: Tempe (home of the Los Angeles Angels) is not too far away. 

Moniak: No, we lived in Scottsdale, too, for two of the years, so familiar with the area. It’ll be business as usual.

Lyons: This is a young group, and I guess you’re the old man of the group at 27. How nice has it been playing with this group of guys, learning how to win as a unit, and having a lot more success this second half than the first?

Moniak: I think this whole thing is a learning process, the game of baseball. Some guys pick it up right away, some guys it takes some time. For the majority, I’d say it takes more time than just picking up right away, especially a team full of young guys here. I think it’s been good. I think it gives these guys a chance to play free and a chance to go out there and play with guys that they came up with. And I think that’s a good recipe, and I think we have a lot of talent here. I think that we have a lot of potential to kind of build and get better and compete in the near future. This last month is going to be huge for us, just kind of running a gauntlet with a bunch of teams that are vying for a playoff spot. It’ll be good to see what that kind of chase is like, even though we’re eliminated from making the playoffs. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t look at it like this last month, kind of treat it as such. We’re showing up to compete every day, everybody in this clubhouse, everyone who plays the game of baseball is a competitor. I think that this last month will be a good little learning experience for us going into the offseason.

Lyons: Speaking of young guys, though he’s not necessarily that young. He is a rookie of sorts. Interim manager Warren Schaefer. Going through the managers you’ve played for, there’s a lot of old school guys in there: Bud Black, Ron Washington, Joe Girardi. Rob Thomson, right?

Moniak: I had Thomson. I had both of them in Philly.

Lyons: Ok. So, what’s been your assessment of your rookie manager?

Moniak: Shaeff’s the man. I think the way we’ve been playing is a testament to him. He shows up every single day ready to work. He’s got our backs. He’s in full support of us, and he’s smart. He loves the game of baseball, and he loves the Rockies organization. I think that I would be very happy to see him take that interim manager title off and for him to be our manager. But obviously, that’s out of my hands. The front office is going to make the decision to see what’s best for them. Like you said, I played for a lot of managers in the game of baseball, and he’s up there with the best of them, if not one of the best. I think that’s just a testament to who he is as a person and just his love for the game and his love for us.

Lyons: You were a Padres fan growing up.

Moniak: Padres fan, yeah.

Lyons: I don’t know if anyone’s asked you of your thoughts on Game 163 in 2007 and Matt Holliday. Did he touch home plate?

Moniak: Well, wearing the purple, I’ll say he did. But when I was a nine-year-old kid, he definitely didn’t. I’ve messed with Clint (Hurdle) about that pretty often. I remember vividly watching in my living room as a kid. If video replay was a thing back then, who knows. But, wearing the purple, I’ll say he did.

Lyons: Have you ever seen the commercial Hurdle and Holliday did the next year? Holliday definitely touched a plate there. It was a plate of donuts, to be fair.

Moniak: I haven’t seen that. I’ll have to look it up.

Lyons: Clint did some good acting there.

Moniak: Does he? Of course. I could see that out of Clint.