Adam Haseley takes leave from Phillies; Mickey Moniak called up from Lehigh Valley

The Phillies placed Haseley on the restricted list for what they termed “personal reasons” and said he will miss “an undetermined amount of time.”

Phillies center fielder Adam Haseley has left the team for personal reasons.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

by Scott Lauber

Published April 14, 2021, 3:04 p.m. ET

After a fly ball dropped in front of Adam Haseley in the three-run fourth inning of Tuesday night’s 4-0 loss in New York, Joe Girardi said the Phillies weren’t planning to make a roster move involving the struggling center fielder. That was still the case when Girardi awoke Wednesday.

But then the manager spoke with Haseley by phone.

And that’s when the plan changed.

The Phillies placed Haseley on the restricted list for what they described only as “personal reasons” and recalled center fielder Mickey Moniak from the Lehigh Valley alternate training site. Girardi said there’s “no timetable” for Haseley’s return. He also wouldn’t say when he expects to see Haseley again.

“I don’t really know,” Girardi said. “It’s a personal thing, and we’ll just leave it at that. I’m not sure when we’ll see him. We had a nice talk today. I think we all agreed that this was probably the best and we’ll move forward.”

Girardi added, “We’re all thinking about Adam.”

Haseley, who turned 25 on Monday, overcame a groin injury in spring training and secured an opening-day roster spot on the final day of camp. But he got off to a slow start, going 4-for-21 with one extra-base hit in nine games (seven starts) in center field.

The Phillies drafted Haseley in the first round (eighth overall) in 2017. He made his major-league debut in 2019 and appeared poised to take over in center field last season. But his defense regressed and he didn’t produce at the plate. He built a gym in his Orlando-area home and put on 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason and said in spring training that he recommitted to giving maximum intensity on every play, no matter how routine.

Players on the restricted list neither get paid nor accrue major-league service time. Haseley is due to make $578,500 this season. He isn’t eligible for salary arbitration until after the 2023 season.

Haseley’s agent didn’t respond to an email Wednesday.

Moniak, the first overall pick in the 2016 draft, was preparing for the 70-mile trip from Allentown to Scranton for an exhibition game against the New York Yankees’ alternate-site team Wednesday when he got word that the Phillies were calling him up. Although he has become close with Haseley over the last five years, Moniak said he has “no clue what the circumstances are” surrounding his friend’s leave of absence.

“I hope he’s OK whatever it is,” Moniak said. “I’m going to reach out to him and make sure. You hate to see it. It’s something that, whatever it may be, I just hope he’s all good.”

Moniak, a left-handed hitter, will start in center field against most right-handed pitchers, according to Girardi. That would make him the dominant half of a platoon with switch-hitting Roman Quinn, who was in the lineup Wednesday night against Mets lefty David Peterson. Quinn was off to a dreadful start, going 1-for-17 with nine strikeouts.

The Phillies could have turned to other, more experienced options in Lehigh Valley. But neither Odúbel Herrera nor Travis Jankowski is on the 40-man roster, and Girardi said Monday that the Phillies want demoted utilityman Scott Kingery to continue working to make fixes to a swing that got badly out of whack over the last few seasons.

“We felt that Mickey’s at-bats were probably the best,” Girardi said. “We liked what we saw from Mickey in spring training. We thought he was probably the most ready to help us.”

Moniak, 22, made his major-league debut last season and went 3-for-14 (.214) with four walks and six strikeouts. He looked impressive in spring training. But although Girardi declared that he believes Moniak is “an everyday player in the big leagues,” the Phillies optioned him to the alternate site because they wanted him to get regular at-bats.

“My whole mindset was, when the time comes, it’s time to go out there, play hard every single pitch, kind of do what I do, stay within myself, and try to do everything I can to help the team win,” Moniak said. “Didn’t know when that was going to come. Just excited that it came this early.”

Entering Wednesday night, Phillies center fielders reached base at a .212 clip, anemic production that was made more glaring because the Phillies scored only 41 runs through 11 games.

But the Phillies will ask Moniak to do only what they were hoping from Haseley: catch everything he can in center field and get on base in front of the pitcher in the No. 8 spot of the order.

Girardi put it another way, one that fits our times.

“He’s going to get a shot,” he said, “and we’re hoping he’s a boost in the arm.”