Former Phillie Mickey Moniak is ‘invested’ in his old team’s push for the World Series

"I’m pulling for them just as hard as anybody," Moniak says. "Watching them win a World Series will be amazing.”

The Los Angeles Angels' Mickey Moniak reacts after hitting a triple off Houston's Luis Garcia on Sept. 11.Read moreKevin M. Cox / AP

Published Oct. 21, 2022, 9:00 a.m. ET

SAN DIEGO — Mickey Moniak is not surprised that any of this is happening. He remembers thinking the Phillies, who host the Padres on Friday in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, could be playoff-bound as early as spring training. The energy felt different. There was more compassion and cohesion than in previous years.

Moniak hasn’t always felt that cohesion. After being labeled the Phillies’ center fielder of the future as the No. 1 overall pick of the 2016 draft at age 18, he struggled to find his footing in the minor leagues. People called him a bust. It wasn’t until this season that he felt he truly belonged, and not only because he earned a spot on the opening day roster.

Moniak got hit on the hand with a pitch in the last spring game against the Rays. A few minutes after he found out it was broken, he was sitting in the training room at the Phillies’ facility in Clearwater, Fla. Nick Castellanos was sitting across from him, and gave him a hug.

“We want you to travel with the team,” Castellanos told him. “We want you to be around the team. You’re a part of this.”

It was what exactly Moniak needed to hear in that moment, and it came from a 10-year veteran who had just signed a five-year, $100 million contract. Once news spread of Moniak’s injury, he heard from veterans, rookies, staff members and coaches. Virtually all of them had the same message.

“They just reminded me that I belonged,” Moniak said. “As much as it [stunk], it let me know that everybody in this clubhouse really cared about me, and I really cared about all of them. I think that that’s a big reason why they’re making this run. That’s a family in there.”

On a physical level, it has been a tough year for Moniak. He wasn’t the same player when he returned from the injured list. He was sent to triple-A Lehigh Valley, and was traded to the Angels, minutes before the Aug. 2 trade deadline.

It was a bittersweet moment. Moniak, 24, knew he would have a better opportunity to get regular playing time with the Angels, who weren’t vying for a playoff spot. But he had also spent six years in the Phillies organization. He counts Alec Bohm, Nick Maton, Dalton Guthrie, Matt Vierling, Darick Hall, and Bailey Falter as some of his closest friends.

Which is why he has stayed in touch with them. Moniak said he’s still in the Phillies’ “day care” group chat, and has been sending them notes of encouragement throughout their playoff run.

“I’ve just been congratulating them,” Moniak said. “You know, hyping them up, stuff like that. I’ve been watching every [playoff] game. I would keep checking the box scores before the postseason, too, when they were trying to clinch.

“I’m definitely invested. I’ve been a Phillie for basically my whole career and like I said, those relationships with those people definitely don’t go away. So, I’m pulling for them just as hard as anybody. Watching them win a World Series will be amazing.”

Moniak, a San Diego County native, was at Petco Park for Games 1 and 2 of the NLCS. (Bohm left him tickets.) He had dinner with his former teammates the night before Game 1. After Kyle Schwarber hit a titanic 488-foot home run that left his bat at 119.7 mph in Game 1, Moniak texted him.

“I grew up here. I’ve been to Petco Park my whole life and watched Padre games and I’ve never seen a ball hit to the second deck,” Moniak said.

The support runs both ways. When Moniak was hit on the hand with a pitch — again — in August, the day care, the nickname for the Phillies’ young players, rallied around him, even though he was playing for the Angels.

Amazingly enough, Moniak was hit with yet another pitch in late September, giving him a bruised left hand. (He concedes that he has had some bad luck with this type of injury.) Again, the day care provided him some needed support. He wound up batting .200 in 19 games for the Angels this season.

“It seems like every time he gets going, something happens,” Bohm said. “We always reach out to him. It’s just friends staying in touch.”

Moniak hopes that one day he can be part of a playoff run of his own. But for now, he’s happy to root his friends on as a spectator.

“It’s been fun to watch,” he said. “I’m excited to continue to watch. I hope to watch them go all the way to the very end.”