Angels’ Mickey Moniak keeps getting hurt when he faces lefties, but he’s not ready to abandon it

Moniak has broken his hand twice and at least four other times he missed multiple games after getting hit by pitches. All occurred when he was facing left-handed pitchers.

Sep 18, 2024 - 08:00

Angels’ Mickey Moniak keeps getting hurt when he faces lefties, but he’s not ready to abandon it

ANAHEIM — Mickey Moniak still longs for the day when he has the opportunity to regularly face lefties, even though he acknowledges the risks are more than just lowering his batting average.

The Angels outfielder is currently out with a left hand contusion suffered when he was hit by a pitch from Houston Astros left-hander Caleb Ferguson on Sunday afternoon.

Moniak walked off the field immediately, which he said was because he figured he had broken his hand.

Moniak has been here before. He broke his right hand at the end of spring training with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2022. He fractured his left middle finger trying to bunt that August with the Angels. He was also hit by a pitch at the end of 2022, in August of this year and again on Sunday. Those each cost him a few games.

All of those happened when Moniak was facing left-handed pitchers.

“It’s definitely not a coincidence,” Moniak said. “I think the sequence of pitches they throw is just what the numbers say.”

Moniak said both times he broke his hand, and again on Sunday, he took a slider away on the previous pitch.

“They get me leaning over the plate a bit,” Moniak said. “And they try to go two-seam in because they think they have me leaning, and they just miss up.”

Moniak said he takes one precaution when he faces a lefty, wearing a pad on his right hand. Otherwise, he doesn’t think all of it means that he needs to change his approach against lefties, or even stop facing them entirely.

Moniak has only 125 of his 891 career plate appearances (14%) against lefties. He’s hit .177 with a .453 OPS in those plate appearances.

“I want to play against everybody,” Moniak said. “I want to play every day. That’s just kind of who I am. I’m confident against lefties. I know what I can do when given the chance. … Maybe seeing them more would help. But if I don’t have that luxury, then I’m not going to go out with an umbrella in case it rains. Just go out there and compete.”

For now, Moniak is just waiting till the swelling goes down enough for him to be back in the lineup. Manager Ron Washington said he expects him to play again before the season ends.

IMPRESSIVE RELIEVERS

Right-handers Ryan Zeferjahn and Ryan Miller have made an impression on Washington in their brief time in the major leagues.

“They showed me some presence,” Washington said. “They certainly have good arms. They haven’t really taken on a load yet of being at the major league level, coming into games. But when they have come into games, they’ve shown you they’ve got the ability with the stuff to get outs. Now, we just got to see how they grow with that.”

Miller, 28, was a minor league Rule 5 pick. He has allowed two earned runs in 7⅓ innings, with seven strikeouts. On Sunday, Washington brought him into the game to face Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez, and he got him on a pop-up.

“I’ve been trying to walk him every chance I get,” Washington said. “I took a pitcher out and brought in Miller to get him. And he got him. That was big right there. He had been tearing us up.”

Zeferjahn, 26, was one of the players the Angels acquired from the Boston Red Sox in the Luis Garcia trade. He has allowed two earned runs in 12⅓ innings, with 13 strikeouts. He has faced the minimum in each of his last four outings.

“I realized quick it’s not anything different (in the majors) and I think that helped me a lot,” Zeferjahn said. “Nothing’s different. Keep doing what I’m doing. Just keep going out there and attacking the zone.”