Phillies’ Mickey Moniak tries to stay engaged in game while recovering from right hand fracture

MIAMI — When Mickey Moniak was told he’d miss the first 4-6 weeks of the regular season with a bone fracture in his right hand after being hit by a pitch in his final spring training game, he wasn’t sure if he’d have to stay in Philadelphia, or head down to the Phillies’ facility in Clearwater, Fla., and wait for it to heal. He ended up doing neither. The day he got his diagnosis, Moniak saw Nick Castellanos in the training room.

“We need you to stay with the team,” Castellanos told him. “We’ve got your back. We’ll go to bat for you.”

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Kyle Schwarber approached him too, and said an iteration of the same thing: Moniak had earned his spot on the 28-man roster, and he would travel with the team as if he were playing center field every day. Moniak has never started a season with an injury, and being around the team while he waits for his hand to heal has its pros and cons. He feels more connected to his teammates, since he’s around them everyday, but is also eager to get out there and contribute, especially as the Phillies try to pull together some wins.

But there’s no rushing a bone fracture, so Moniak is trying to be patient and take advantage of the opportunities he does have. He’s been shagging balls in the outfield, doing modified workouts, and base-running drills, all while wearing a small cast on his hand. He can’t swing a bat right now, but will start standing in on bullpens in a few weeks to keep his eyes sharp.

“From the dugout, I’ve been tracking the pitchers as well,” he said. “Just because I’m bored and want to be out there hitting. I’ll treat as if I’m on deck — basically doing everything I would do on deck, but from the dugout. Just trying to stay locked in.

“I look for things in the game, too. I’m trying to pay attention to those little things so that when I do come back, it’s something I can add to my game. Like watching sequencing with pitchers, for example. Maybe this guy’s doing this. The biggest thing is staying locked in, to continue learning, so that when you do come back, you don’t miss a beat.”

Moniak says that he’s undergoing X-rays once a week, and that his timeline to rejoin the club is still up in the air. Until he can contribute on the field again, he says he’ll keep trying to contribute in other ways — by supporting his teammates, and by trying to refine his own game.

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