Former Phillies No. 1 overall pick Mickey Moniak was released by the Los Angeles Angels, the team announced on Tuesday.
Moniak, 26, spent two-and-a-half years with the Angels after being dealt to Los Angeles in the Noah Syndergaard trade back in 2022. His best season came in 2023, when he posted an .802 OPS in 323 plate appearances as a platoon outfielder.
His release has some financial ramifications. Moniak’s $2 million 2025 salary he won in arbitration is not guaranteed, but he is owed 45 days of pay, which equals roughly $483,000, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The current collective bargaining agreement does not guarantee salaries for players who go to an arbitration hearing with their respective club.
The Phillies selected Moniak first overall in the 2016 MLB Draft, and he made his big league debut in 2020. He hit his way onto the roster in spring training of 2022, but fractured his right hand on a hit-by-pitch during the final day of Grapefruit League play and missed the first two months of the regular season.
The first round of the 2016 draft will go down as one of the worst in baseball history. The No. 2 pick, Nick Senzel, is currently playing in Mexico. No. 3 pick Ian Anderson, who helped the Atlanta Braves win the World Series in 2021, has made only 22 starts since then, and was just traded from the Braves to the Angels. For the Phillies, it was the wrong year to have the highest pick in the draft. That doesn’t excuse the club’s other draft failures during the rebuild, but a superstar Bryce Harper or Paul Skenes is not always available every year.
