Mickey Moniak loses playing time, but Angels want him in majors

HOUSTON — As quickly as Mickey Moniak rose to become a revelation at the top of the Angels lineup, he was gone.

Moniak was on the bench for all four games this weekend in Houston, which is simply because Taylor Ward has gotten hot. Ward was 9 for 22 with two homers in the five games leading into Sunday.

The Angels expected Ward to be an everyday player, based on last season, when they constructed the team, and now that he’s heating up, that’s how they’re using him.

The question, then, is whether the Angels should keep Moniak sitting on the bench in the majors, or send him to Triple-A to play every day.

Manager Phil Nevin said Moniak has shown them enough that they still see value in keeping him in the majors.

“I think he’s too valuable to us right now,” Nevin said before Sunday’s game. “He’s still in a good place. He’s gonna be in a game here soon. There’s some scenarios coming up where he has a chance where he could play a couple.”

Nevin said he was set to use Moniak as a pinch-hitter on Saturday, but the situations didn’t arise. He also said he envisions days off this week for Ward, Hunter Renfroe and Mike Trout, which would provide opportunities for Moniak.

Moniak is hitting .327 with a 1.034 OPS and four homers in 14 games. Ward is hitting .240 with a .665 OPS and six homers, but the Angels are expecting him to perform more like last year when he had an .833 OPS. Moniak’s career OPS coming into this season was .486.

FLETCHER UPDATE

Infielder David Fletcher is hitting .336 with a .787 OPS in 34 games at Triple-A. The Angels surprisingly sent him down in April, trying to get him back to being as productive as he was in his first few years in the majors.

“He’s putting the ball in play kind of close to what the Fletch we’ve always seen has,” Nevin said. “There’s a lot of good things that he’s doing down there, and from what I’ve heard from the coaching staff and the guys around there is he’s a great teammate and gone down there and understood what he’s had to do. Where that puts him right now, I couldn’t tell you, but I know he’s doing the right things.”

NOTES

Nevin said the Angels would announce after Sunday’s game what they are doing with their rotation for the upcoming series against the Chicago Cubs. He said on Saturday that they were considering giving Shohei Ohtani an extra day of rest, which would mean he’d pitch on Friday instead of Thursday. …

Anthony Rendon, who has been out with a groin injury, is scheduled to work out at Angel Stadium on Monday, and then he could be activated on Tuesday or Wednesday, Nevin said.

UP NEXT

Angels (TBD) vs. Cubs (TBD), Tuesday, 6:38 p.m., Angel Stadium, Bally Sports West,  830 AM.

This story will be updated.