Angels' Breakout Star of 2024 is Trying — And Failing — to Sustain His Breakout

When one door closes, another one opens, in baseball as in life. Mickey Moniak needs to walk through the opening to make a difference for the Los Angeles Angels with Mike Trout on the injured list.

What does manager Ron Washington want to see from the young outfielder?

“Make contact,” Washington told the Orange County Register's Jeff Fletcher. “He’s not making contact. Use the whole field. Be Mickey. Not that Mickey that hit 14 home runs and thinks he’s a home run hitter. The Mickey who, when he got drafted, he was putting the ball all over the place. And then occasionally he’ll catch a home run.”

Last season was the first time he got significant playing time in the majors. He hit .280 with 14 home runs and an .802 OPS.

However, he struck out 113 times and walked nine times, which is a giant red flag.

The 25-year-old told Fletcher that he’s trying to be better with his swing decisions. It’s probably too early to read much into the numbers, but so far Moniak has cut his chase rate on pitches outside the zone, from 49 percent to 39 percent. The major league average is 31 percent.

“I feel like right now I’m swinging at the pitches I should be swinging at,” Moniak said. “I’m just missing them. That’s on me to figure out.”

So far, Moniak is batting .167 with 12 hits in 72 at-bats across 27 games. He has struck out 22 times and earned five walks.

“Right now the focus is to get the timing back,” Moniak said. “The more at-bats I get, the more I can get back to doing what I do best. … The results aren’t there yet, but it’s a long season. We’ll take it month by month and revisit it in October.”