Moniak, Adell go deep as they work toward consistency

ANAHEIM -- The Angels couldn’t muster much offense against Toronto right-hander, Bowden Francis in Monday night’s 4-2 loss to the Blue Jays. The noise they were able to make at Angel Stadium came from a pair of familiar sources: Mickey Moniak and Jo Adell.

Moniak’s blast, projected at 395 feet by Statcast, sailed over the right-field fence in the third inning and was the only baserunner allowed by Francis, who tossed seven frames.

Moniak came into the game among the league’s hottest hitters in August, with five multihit games across six contests. He’s tied with the Nats’ Luis García Jr. for third in the Majors this month (min. 25 at-bats) with a .444 average (12-for-27), trailing only Washington’s Alex Call and Yankees superstar Aaron Judge.

“I feel comfortable,” Moniak said of his turnaround. “I’m in a good spot mechanically, mentally I feel like I’m seeing the ball well. I think, after the slow start, the ultimate goal is to just get better every month. So far, I’ve been able to do that.”

Moniak, 26, hit .164 through his first 46 games this season, struggling to find consistency in an Angels lineup mired with injuries and inefficiency. But he’s bounced back in the 49 games since, posting a slash line of .280/.320/.470 and setting a career-high for games in a season each day he goes out there.

Moniak is as much a part of a big league club as he’s been thus far in his young career, a testament to his effort.

“He’s been out there working every single day,” said manager Ron Washington. “It took a bit for it to come together, but he never stopped working and he deserves the rewards he’s getting right now.”

Steering the Angels’ ship in his first season as manager, Washington has emphasized compartmentalization in helping shape the club’s young players into everyday Major Leaguers.

“I’d say that’s pretty spot on what I’m trying to do,” said Moniak regarding the “compartmentalization” concept. “Obviously, you break things down into seasons. You get paid going into the first year of arbitration based on the year you had, but I look at it like … it’s a career. I didn’t have the start I wanted, but I knew I was better than that. I had success last year.

“Baseball is a funny game, you can feel like the best hitter one day and the worst hitter in the world the next day. But yeah, trying to control what I can control, like you said, compartmentalize.”

Moniak showed a bit of fire in the outfield on Monday after Leo Jiménez’s two-run homer off Davis Daniel narrowly avoided his outstretched glove in left-center field.

“Yeah, he was a little upset,” said Washington. “I wish he would have caught it, we’d still be out there playing right now. He gave a great effort.”

Adell, who’s also seen strong results since shedding the leg kick in his approach at the plate, put together his highlight package in the ninth.

First, he speared a 98.5 mph liner off the bat of Daulton Varsho with a leaping catch at the right-field fence, following that up with a laser of a 107.2 mph homer to nearly the same spot in the bottom of the frame for the Halos’ second run.

Adell credited his new approach at the plate to that ninth-inning success. “I think more than anything, I kind of got rid of the pull tendency toward the end of that at-bat. I hit a ground ball into the dugout on a slider a couple of pitches before, and that was kind of my wake-up call that I need to stay on the ball a little bit more and stay the other way.”

Washington saw elements of a consistent everyday approach in the Angels’ 3-3 East Coast road trip, which included a series victory at Yankee Stadium -- but it’s a work in progress.

“I think we are gathering that consistency,” Washington said pregame, “but I think we won't know if it's there until we go into next year, when they have to go through this all over again.”

With the Angels evaluating their talent pool in hopes of piecing together a contending team in the future, the maturation of both Moniak and Adell could go a long way toward stabilizing the roster -- and providing some of that desired consistency.