Moniak correcting his swing, 'bad habits' following return from IL

DENVER -- Mickey Moniak’s first-inning home run -- one of few good Rockies moments worth marking in Tuesday night’s 14-3 loss to the sizzling Marlins at Coors Field -- could be a sign he is shaking bad habits that crept into his swing while his right ankle was hurting.

Moniak batted .315 with a 1.051 OPS, 12 home runs and 26 RBIs through the season’s first 35 games. But his success halted after he crashed into the center-field wall at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park while trying to make a catch during a May 12 game.

Moniak’s right ankle was hurting when he went 3-for-5 with a home run, a double and a triple the night after the play. It wouldn’t get better, and his numbers would take a downturn -- .087 (2-for-23) before he and the Rockies agreed that a stint on the injured list with right ankle tendinitis was the correct move.

A month out of the Major League lineup was enough to recover from the pain. But that painful time between the injury and the IL stint led to swing changes that are taking time to correct. In his first seven games after returning, Moniak went 2-for-19 (.105).

“It’s a limited sample size, obviously coming back from the ankle,” said Moniak, whose homer was one of five hits the Rockies mustered on Tuesday. “I’m definitely trying to retrain the body to get rid of a little bit of bad habits that I created in those 10 days prior to going on the IL.

“The ankle feels great. It’s just me trying to fine-tune some stuff, get the timing back. I felt a lot better today, for sure.”

The struggles have lowered Moniak’s season average to .260. But a track record with the Rockies -- .270 with 24 homers last season, and the strong start this year -- has manager Warren Schaeffer confident that Moniak will bounce back.

“Mick is a really good player,” Schaeffer said. “He’s been having a really good year. He just came back off the IL and sometimes it takes you a couple of days to get right where you want. It was a good swing by Mick tonight, so he’s on the right path.”

To rebuild his ability to sting baseballs, Moniak took batting practice before the rest of the club on Tuesday. Possibly coincidentally, his partners were Tyler Freeman and Braxton Fulford -- two right-handed hitters with little excess movement in their swings.

Freeman and Fulford concentrated on easy swings to the opposite field and middle. Fulford didn’t even lift his front (left) foot during his first round, and did his second round by stepping away from the pitcher with his right foot. Freeman barely lifted his front foot. These maneuvers keep what hitting folks call a “solid front side.” When the front foot is planted, the hips can provide the torque necessary to drive the ball.

Moniak at the beginning of his swing exerted more force than the others, and his solid hits went to the pull side and the middle. But the right foot hit solidly and provided the resistance that allowed the upper body and hips to work.

Between the injury and the IL stint, Moniak protected the right foot with a gentle step -- good for reducing pain, but detrimental otherwise.

“When you’re hesitant to plant on that foot, it’s tough to stay through a baseball,” Moniak said. “It’s tough to stay on offspeed stuff. You’re spinning -- you always hear guys talk about spinning off the ball. That typically comes from having a weak front side. That’s what I was battling.

“I’m trying to stay through the baseball, trusting that. It feels good. I’m just taking it day by day, trying to get back to where I was.”

The homer -- a shot into the Marlins’ bullpen in right-center off righty Eury Pérez -- was a stride in the right direction.