When the Rockies look back on Mickey Moniak’s 2026 season, they’ll see two very different players. For stretches, he looked like the kind of bat Colorado hoped it was getting when it brought in the former No. 1 overall pick from the 2016 MLB Draft. At other times, he went quiet in a hurry, and the offense felt it.
Moniak got off to a strong start in his first full season with the Rockies after joining the club in 2025. In the first half, he hit .278 with 15 home runs, flashed power, came through in clutch moments and gave Colorado leadership in the clubhouse. That production drew trade interest from multiple teams before the Rockies decided to keep him and lock him up with a two-year, $16.25 million extension.
After that deal, though, the production changed. Moniak hit just .195 in the second half, though he did add eight home runs.
By the end of the year, his line settled at 23 home runs, 65 RBIs, 17 doubles, a .238 batting average and a .758 OPS. On paper, that’s not a disaster. But the split between the first half and the finish is exactly why Colorado still has questions to answer this offseason about the investment it made.
There is some context that softens the evaluation. The Rockies were a long shot to make the playoffs from the start, so this isn’t a season that gets judged with the harshest possible lens. Moniak, 28, still has two more years to prove he can be a real power threat in the middle or toward the bottom of the Colorado lineup and help lift the franchise.
The month-to-month numbers tell the story of the season in sharper detail. In April, he was rolling: .315 average, .361 on-base percentage, .652 slugging percentage and a 1.013 OPS across 89 at-bats. May was still productive, if less explosive, at .230/.299/.541 with an .839 OPS in 61 at-bats.
Then came the dip. In June, he managed only a .130 average and a .428 OPS in 23 at-bats. Moniak was placed on the injured list and missed a month with right ankle tendinitis before returning near the end of June.
July brought his best stretch of the second half. He hit .320 with a .560 slugging percentage and an .898 OPS in 75 at-bats, and it looked like he had found his rhythm again.
But once the weather turned, so did his bat. In August, he hit .188, and in September he dropped to .150.
Those cold stretches mattered. Between August and September, Moniak hit .169, and Colorado went 15-37 over that span. For a player viewed earlier in the year as a difference-maker, that kind of fade is hard to ignore.
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For a club that spent much of the year searching for reasons to feel better about where it was headed, Rumfield became the clearest one. He finished with 16 home runs and 73 RBIs, but the bigger story was the sense he brought of an everyday player who already understood how to control an at-bat. The Rockies still have plenty to sort out after another long season, but they can at least point to Rumfield as proof that not every part of the future is uncertain. [Read more 🡒]
Rockies Face Immediate Pressure After Another 100-Loss Season
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The harder problem remains the one that has haunted this club for years. DePodesta acknowledged the rotations issues, especially the lack of reliable starting pitching, and said the Rockies need more depth and more experience on the mound if they are going to dig out of this cycle. The team says it has identified a core to build around, but identifying one is a long way from turning it into a competitive roster, which is why the coming months figure to carry immediate pressure for a club that can no longer afford to treat another offseason like a slow reset. [Read more 🡒]