DENVER -- Mickey Moniak’s first-inning homer in Tuesday night’s 14-3 loss to the Marlins was more than one of the Rockies’ few bright spots at Coors Field. It also looked like a step toward putting some swing problems behind him after a rough stretch tied to his right ankle.
Moniak had been rolling before the injury. Through the season’s first 35 games, he hit .315 with a 1.051 OPS, 12 home runs and 26 RBIs. Then came the collision at PNC Park on May 12, when he ran into the center-field wall while trying to make a catch.
He stayed in the lineup the next night and went 3-for-5 with a homer, double and triple, but the ankle never really settled down. His production dropped to .087 over his next 23 at-bats, and eventually the Rockies and Moniak agreed a trip to the injured list with right ankle tendinitis was the right call.
The month away from the big league lineup gave the ankle time to heal. What it also left behind were a few swing habits Moniak now has to clean up. In his first seven games back, he went just 2-for-19.
“It’s a limited sample size, obviously coming back from the ankle,” said Moniak, whose homer was one of five hits the Rockies mustered on Tuesday. “I’m definitely trying to retrain the body to get rid of a little bit of bad habits that I created in those 10 days prior to going on the IL.
“The ankle feels great. It’s just me trying to fine-tune some stuff, get the timing back. I felt a lot better today, for sure.”
Even with the dip, Moniak’s season average has only been pushed down to .260, and manager Warren Schaeffer still likes where this is headed. That confidence comes from what Moniak did last season with the Rockies, when he hit .270 with 24 homers, as well as the strong start he put together this year.
“Mick is a really good player,” Schaeffer said. “He’s been having a really good year.
He just came back off the IL and sometimes it takes you a couple of days to get right where you want. It was a good swing by Mick tonight, so he’s on the right path.”
Moniak worked before the rest of the team on Tuesday, taking batting practice in an effort to get his timing and feel back. He was joined by Tyler Freeman and Braxton Fulford, both right-handed hitters whose swings feature little extra movement.
Freeman and Fulford were focused on simple work to the opposite field and middle. Fulford didn’t even lift his front, left foot on his first round, then stepped away from the pitcher with his right foot in the second.
Freeman barely lifted his front foot. Those kinds of moves help keep what hitting people call a “solid front side,” which gives the hips something firm to work against and helps drive the ball.
Moniak’s swing has looked different because he has been protecting the right foot with a lighter step, which helped him avoid pain but made it harder to stay through pitches.
“When you’re hesitant to plant on that foot, it’s tough to stay through a baseball,” Moniak said. “It’s tough to stay on offspeed stuff.
You’re spinning -- you always hear guys talk about spinning off the ball. That typically comes from having a weak front side.
That’s what I was battling.
“I’m trying to stay through the baseball, trusting that. It feels good. I’m just taking it day by day, trying to get back to where I was.”
In Other News...
Rockies Finally Turn To A Young Arm After Veteran Move
The Rockies are making another pitching shuffle, this time moving on from John Brebbia and opening a spot for Gabriel Hughes, the 2022 first-round pick who has been working back from Tommy John surgery. Brebbia has bounced around the league over the course of his career, but his recent struggles made the change unsurprising, while Hughes has been trending in the right direction at Triple-A and looks ready for his first shot in Denver.
Hughes is expected to ease in out of the bullpen at first, even though the organization still sees starter potential in his arm. For a Rockies staff that has been leaning on veterans and searching for any kind of stability, the call-up adds a dose of upside and a new reason to watch closely every time the phone rings to the bullpen. [Read more 🡒]
Rockies May Already Regret Revisiting This Veteran Bullpen Decision
John Brebbias path back into the Rockies bullpen has already become a reminder of why the club moved on from him once this spring. The 36-year-old right-hander was cut before Opening Day after a rocky camp, then found his way back on a minor league deal and returned to Colorado on June 21 after a short stop with the Twins.
Since that recall, Brebbia has not given the Rockies much reason to think the second look will turn out differently. His recent run has been more of the same from a veteran whose performance has slipped over the past couple of seasons, and the team could soon be forced to weigh whether a younger arm deserves the next chance instead. [Read more 🡒]