READING, Penn. — Wearing a bright red big-league batting helmet atop a black minor league uniform, Mickey Moniak looked more like a plot device than a rehabbing center fielder as he dug into the batter’s box on Tuesday morning. The sky was gray and the stands were filled with field-tripping middle schoolers and the second-place Phillies were a thousand miles away, but here in the leadoff spot was someone to pay attention to. A hero in the middle of his journey? Or a meaningless subplot? The fate of a season — nay, an era! — hangs in the balance.
Or something like that.
“I’m just trying to be me,” Moniak said after going 2-for-5 in a rehab appearance for double-A Reading, his latest step on the road back from a thumb injury that has sidelined him since early April. “I’m trying to go up there and kind of pick up where I left off in spring training and just kind of help the team win. Be a piece that can just go out there, play baseball, play solid baseball, have good at-bats, and just complement the guys we have up there now. That lineup is still very dangerous, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”
