Mickey Moniak latest Philadelphia Phillies player to mock Manfred, MLB

Former Phillies first-overall draft pick Mickey Moniak mocks Rob Manfred, MLB

After months of relative silence from Philadelphia Phillies players, who are not the most vocal MLB squad on social media, the drama of this week’s labor negotiations and subsequent regular-season delay has led to proverbial raised voices.

Didi Gregorius, Rhys Hoskins, Jean Segura, even Bryce Harper has spoken out, reaching out to the Nippon League’s Yomiuri Giants about ‘killing time.’

Earlier this week, Mickey Moniak weighed in on his Instagram Stories, using an interesting combination of mocking and statistical fact.

Moniak was the first overall selection in the 2016 June Amateur Draft.

The Phillies had finished 63-99 the year before, the worst team in baseball. As such, they were awarded (if you can call it that) the number-one pick in the next year’s draft, and they selected Moniak, the grandson of a Boston Red Sox minor-leaguer. He’d been Baseball America‘s High School Player of the Year and Gatorade’s California Baseball Player of the Year, an award the Phillies seem to like, as they drafted Gatorade’s Florida Baseball Player of the Year, Andrew Painter, as their first-round pick in 2021.

Fast-forward to 2022, and Moniak has played parts of two seasons for the Phillies. As a member of the 40-man roster, he is locked out, despite only playing 29 games so far in his big-league career.

Until the lockout ends, Moniak cannot report to Spring Training, use club facilities, work with team coaches and trainers, or even have direct contact with the Phillies. Like his teammates, he’s pretty frustrated, and it’s not hard to see why. Players have worked their entire lives to reach the majors, and their window of youth, vigor, and peak performance is a small one. Every day of the lockout is a day of that window getting smaller.