Phillies select IF Yairo Munoz, option former first overall pick Mickey Moniak

The Phillies selected the contract of infielder Yairo Munoz from Triple-A Lehigh Valley and optioned center fielder Mickey Moniak back to Lehigh Valley in a corresponding 26-man roster move. Infielder Jean Segura was transferred from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Munoz. Segura suffered a broken finger a couple weeks back and is expected to miss up to 12 weeks of action as a result.

Munoz, 27, is hitting .319/.345/.454 in 172 plate appearances with the IronPigs so far in 2022. A solid utilityman with the Cardinals back in 2018, he’s struggled to re-create that year’s .276/.350/.413 output at the big league level. Munoz has consistently hit well against Triple-A pitching, though, and he’ll give the Phillies some additional infield cover with Segura, Johan Camargo and Nick Maton all on the injured list.

As for Moniak, the 24-year-old former No. 1 pick hasn’t gotten it going at the plate after getting a late start to the season due to a fractured hand suffered in spring training. He’s hit just .160/.250/.160 in a tiny sample of 25 plate appearances, and the Phils will give him a reset in Triple-A to try to get back on track there. At this point, it’s unlikely that Moniak ever matches the expectations so often associated with the top overall pick in the draft, but that doesn’t rule him out as a potentially useful contributor to the Phillies — either in 2022 or further down the road.