Yoán Moncada's COVID-plagued 2020 season was a tough slog to watch and an even tougher one for the player himself, but it did team him a thing or two about making himself useful when he's not close to 100 percent, but still in playable shape.
The problem is that he's had to rely on that experience once again. He built himself a cushion with a terrific start, but he's had to dip into the surplus during a tough June during which he's battled a sinus infection. He's batting just .200/.302/.289 over 53 plate appearances around a missed series against Tampa Bay.
I could draw upon my experiences from watching Moncada in 2020 to know something wasn't right, because up until Saturday night, he hadn't pulled a ball in the air from either side of the plate in June. When he's feeling good, the bat whips through the zone and rips pitches to right field from the left-handed batter's box. When he's not feeling well, the bat drags, resulting in a lot more harmless fly balls the other way. There's a correlation between his pull percentage and his wOBA on the season. When it came to this Lifter Puller, it went from fiesta to fiascos.
Moncada insists this isn't a repeat of the season-long war he waged against COVID-19's long-term effects.
After first getting headaches during Sunday’s victory in Detroit, Moncada reported diminished strength and energy and even said he lost taste and smell again for a time. Moncada is vaccinated, but the symptoms were such that he was tested again for the virus. The results came back negative and the diagnosis of a sinus infection has been reaffirmed, but Moncada is in a familiar spot as he returned to action Thursday night.
“It seems a little bit similar because I don’t feel the strength in my body to do things, but I know that it’s not what I had last year,” Moncada said. “It is not COVID. Right now, I just need to find a way to start feeling better and stronger, and that’s what I’m working on, working on with the trainers, to feel that way for me to start feeling better and stronger.”
And it's kind of crucial to the White Sox that he's correct. The full-strength version of Moncada -- especially the version that showed a best-ever recognition of the strike zone and driveable pitches -- can paper over a lot of the Sox's team-wide deficiencies, especially against righties from the left side. The Moncada who has to get by with walks, above-average speed and defense at third base is better than no Moncada at all, but his diminished skills are harder to mask without Eloy Jiménez or Luis Robert taking steps forward.
Fortunately, he did manage to lift one ball in the air to the pull field against Houston on Saturday.
It was the hanging-est of hanging sliders, and he probably should've hit it harder than 98.2 mph, but maybe he was protecting on a 2-2 count with two outs, and nobody will complain if this is merely the start of a return to the first groove he'd found this season.
(Photo by Rick Osentoski / USA TODAY Sports)
