Phillies need Mickey Moniak to quell centerfield disaster

Have you ever seen that Lady Gaga meme, where the pop star rattles off all these great adjectives? The center field situation for the 2021 Philadelphia Phillies has been the complete opposite. It isn’t “brilliant,” “amazing,” “incredible,” nor “show-stopping.” It is, however, an unmitigated disaster.

The Phillies have a serious centerfield problem on their hands.

Pretty much everything that could go wrong for the Phillies in center field has gone wrong so far this season. Roman Quinn has started five games in center, while Adam Haseley has started seven. Regardless of who was given the nod on any given day, neither has offered the Phillies much of anything by way of production. In fact, they’ve both been full-blown liabilities.

In one of the most frustrating stat lines of the season, Quinn has just a single hit to his name in 20 at-bats. Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler, meanwhile, has two — and they came in the same game. One of those was even a double — an extra “twist of the knife” for fans since Quinn has yet to log an extra-base hit himself.

As great as it is to see a pitcher pick up a couple of hits, it goes without saying you never want to see a position player being outhit by a guy who gets to swing the bat about twice every five days, if he’s lucky — especially when said position player is splitting time as a starter.

On the season, Quinn is slashing .050/.208/.050 and has offered the Phillies zero pop. He has more hit-by-pitches (3) than hits and walks combined (2).