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).

Since Roman Quinn is in his fifth season in red pinstripes, the Phillies know who he is and where his value lies, excelling as a pinch-runner. While he’s never been a particularly good hitter, he’s also never been quite this bad. His inability to get on base has also rendered his biggest asset to the team utterly useless.

Adam Haseley hasn’t been much better. He’s slashed .190/.190/.238 with just four hits. He’s also been horrendous in the field — most recently misjudging a ball that was hit right to him on Tuesday night. The mistake ended up being an egregious error that helped the New York Mets throw three runs on the board and never look back, winning 4-0.

Who will play center field for the Phillies now?

The Phillies recently made a surprising move when they announced that Haseley was placed on the restricted list. When a player is placed there, they are not paid and do not accrue service time. Further, it’s a move that must be approved by the Commissioner of Major League Baseball.

I won’t speculate as to what is going on with Haseley. He deserves his privacy and hopefully fans, the team, and media give it to him. However, I do want to extend my best wishes to him and hope he comes back stronger than ever.

Filling Haseley’s spot on the 26-man roster is Mickey Moniak. The former No. 1 overall pick has largely struggled at every level of his professional career thus far. However, he recently had a terrific spring training and looked like a different player. There is no way of knowing quite yet if those results will translate into the regular season, but it is encouraging.