Phillies add former No. 1 pick Mickey Moniak to player pool
By Matt Rappa
The Phillies have added their former No. 1 overall pick Mickey Moniak to their player pool roster
With less than two days until the August 31 trade deadline at 4 p.m., the Philadelphia Phillies made an intriguing roster move — not a deal with another team, but rather an addition to their 60-man player pool roster.
Former No. 1 overall pick from the 2016 amateur draft — outfielder Mickey Moniak — was added to the Phillies player pool roster on Sunday, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jim Salisbury. Moniak will report to their alternate training site at Lehigh Valley.
In being added, Moniak joins fellow outfielders Kyle Garlick, Mikie Mahtook, and Nick Martini at the team’s satellite camp; of the group, Garlick is the only player currently on the 40-man roster.
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The timing of Moniak’s addition to the player pool is intriguing; with the trade deadline fast approaching, Salisbury noted that only those in a team’s player pool are eligible to be traded. Teams can also list trade pieces as “players to be named later,” however they are not eligible to play for their new team in 2020.
We are all missing baseball today. Here is a message from 2019 outfielder @MickeyMoniak to our fans. Stay healthy everyone! Baseball is in the air today and hopefully we will see you at America’s Classic Ballpark really soon! pic.twitter.com/8IIwDwALLB
— Reading Fightin Phils (@ReadingFightins) March 26, 2020
Hence, if Moniak drawing trade interest is the reason he was added to the Phillies’ player pool roster, whoever potentially wants to acquire him may want to use him in the majors at some point this season.
Moniak being left off the initial player pool roster for summer camp was a surprise, but as Salisbury noted, he had been rehabbing from a minor knee injury in Clearwater.
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Across 119 games and 503 plate appearances last season at Double-A Reading, the Encinitas, California, native slashed .252/.303/.439 with 28 doubles, 13 triples, 11 home runs, 67 RBI, 33 walks, and 111 strikeouts.
MLB Pipeline ranks Moniak as the Phillies’ No. 13-ranked prospect, praising him as an “above-average runner” who can steal bases. Moniak successfully stole 15 of his 18 attempts at Double-A in 2019.