Under the Radar: The Underrated NL MVP Candidate

Coming into the 2026 fantasy baseball season, you might have thought that Hunter Goodman, Jordan Beck, Brenton Doyle, or Ezequiel Tovar would have been the Colorado Rockies’ best offensive player. A case could have (loosely) been made for That Zac Veen or even 2024 first-round pick Charlie Condon would come up from the minors and take that tile. A player who would not have been on anyone’s lips was Mickey Moniak.

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But he is, without a doubt, the best player on the Rockies through seven weeks. Coming into the Rockies’ game on Tuesday night against the Pirates, Moniak not only led the Rockies in home runs, slugging percentage, wOBA, and wRC+. He led the ENTIRE National League in slugging, besting Matt Olson by .001. He has 11 home runs and 21 RBI in just 129 plate appearances, despite being taken well after the first 175 hitters in spring drafts.

To say Mickey Moniak has stepped up his game in 2026 (as a 27-year-old) is an understatement. Let’s look at how Moniak has taken his game to a different level entirely this season, and used Coors Field to help.

The Mickey Moniak Breakout

At 27 years old, and already in his seventh professional season, the Colorado Rockies outfielder is breaking out. How is someone who has never had more than 461 plate appearances in a season hitting so well? Let’s dive in and look at one of baseball’s most unheralded offensive stars through seven weeks.

Moniak Has Elevated His Contact This Season

Through his first 129 plate appearances heading into his game on Tuesday night, Moniak has a wOBA of .428. Once again, Moniak is paired right next to Matt Olson and trails him in this category by just .007. As you might expect, that is in the top 1% of all hitters. It’s also a massive jump from his .348 wOBA in his first season with the Rockies last year.

Moniak’s average exit velocity, max exit velocity, barrel rate, and hard-hit rate are consistent with his numbers from last year and in the minors. Where he is outpacing his past numbers is with an elite number in the zone contact department. Moniak is now over 88% in zone contact rate, almost eight percentage points higher than his career mark. He is swinging at the exact same percentage of pitches in the zone this year as last year (74.3% to 74.2%), but he has learned to better square up balls in the zone.

Fly Ball Tendencies Are Also Helping Moniak

One other massive change is how Moniak has severely limited his ground balls and is putting the ball in the air much more often. So far, 54.1% of his batted balls have been fly balls, compared to just 43.9% in 2025. Why is this important? Because fly balls, and fly balls that are pulled in the air, are the best type of batted ball for home runs. Moniak understands this, and that fly balls soar out of Coors Field, so he is excelling in that department.

Slugging leaders since June of 2025 (min. 250 PA):

.619 – Mickey Moniak
.619 – Nick Kurtz

The @Rockies outfielder joins @CY24_7 at the Skybox to talk through his adjustments. pic.twitter.com/Fxl7BbpYkk

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) April 24, 2026

In 2026, Moniak is hitting ground balls just 34% of the time. That number has dropped down below his career average as Moniak has lofted his swing and put more power behind it. The result has been a home run to fly ball rate over 24%, which could regress down some, but would still be the highest number of his career.

At 27 years old, these are great signs for a hitter who has entered his prime and recognizes the opportunity he has to create power in Coors. Strong batted ball metrics and putting the ball in the air have gone a long way so far this season.

Moniak is Also Showing Growth In His Plate Discipline

Moniak came into Major League Baseball with four straight seasons of more than a 33% strikeout rate. In 2026, that number is 27% or below for three straight seasons, and it’s helping everywhere. He simply is swinging less at bad pitches and producing better contact quality when at the plate; he’s also making better decisions as he evaluates each pitch.

His swing rate is up, his contact rate is up, his zone contact rate is up, and he has lowered his called plus swinging strike rate over 5.5 percentage points from just three seasons ago. This is the true definition of plate discipline growth, and it’s getting to a point where the Rockies simply can’t keep him out of the lineup.

Mickey Moniak goes deep AGAIN 💪💪

He's tied for the NL lead with 11 homers! pic.twitter.com/ES77NwQ95T

— MLB (@MLB) May 3, 2026

Keep in mind, Moniak started the season on the IL, so he didn’t have a plate appearance until a week into the season. Then he didn’t start versus a left-hander until April 29th. He has started to be in the lineup against them now, and started against the toughest of left-handers on Sunday, Christopher Sanchez. Did he get a hit? Of course he did.

Mickey Moniak Is Having a Legitimate Breakout

Add up all of this under-the-hood production, and it has led to a very strong stat line to start the season – some might even call it MVP-worthy. Overall, Moniak is hitting .303/.349/.655 with 11 home runs, 21 RBI, and 20 runs in just 33 games. There are only five National League hitters who have at least 11 home runs, 20 RBI, and 20 runs. Only one of them is hitting over .300: Mickey Moniak.

Moniak is better than the 80th percentile in expected slugging percentage, barrel rate, and his bat speed is also borderline elite this year. This breakout, while with a little luck attached and with some help from Coors Field, is for real, and Moniak has only been in Coors for about a year, so he is still learning the nuances of hitting there.

Put everything together, and it’s easy to see how Moniak has put together such a strong season so far. Moniak is up to 96% rostered in Fantrax baseball leagues, so everyone has caught on to his strong start. But do they realize how good it has been, or are they willing to part with him in a trade? The first slump might be a great buying opportunity.

The Rockies aren’t going anywhere in a tough NL West division with several good teams. But this season is more about developing their young players and seeing what kind of young core they can put together. Moniak might be the veteran presence of the bunch, but he is leading by example. If he continues to do this all year long, at least a few MVP votes are going to find him at the end of the year.