Los Angeles Angels' Mickey Moniak Makes Baseball History on His Birthday

The Former No. 1 pick in the MLB Draft did something that no other player in baseball history has done on Saturday afternoon. It involved a birthday home run against the Cleveland Guardians.

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mickey Moniak made some very unique baseball history on Saturday as the Halos took on the Cleveland Guardians.

It involved a home run, and Moniak's birthday...

From the Twitter account @OptaSTATS:

Mickey Moniak of the @Angels is the first player in MLB history to make his season debut on his birthday and hit a leadoff home run.

Mickey Moniak of the @Angels is the first player in MLB history to make his season debut on his birthday and hit a leadoff home run.

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) May 13, 2023

This is very much from the "who keeps track of this" department, but it's history nonetheless!

The former No. 1 overall pick in the draft took Cal Quantrill deep to start the game. For good measure, Moniak also stole two birthday bases and went 3-4 at the plate. 

Moniak was selected No. 1 overall by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2016 draft out of the California high school ranks. He made his major league debut in 2020 with the Phillies and played 21 games for them a season ago, but was dealt to the Angels in the trade that sent Brandon Marsh to Philly.

Lifetime, Moniak has 157 major league at-bats. He's got five homers, 12 RBI, three steals and a .172 batting average.

Sadly, his birthday heroics weren't enough as the Angels fell to the Guardians, 8-6. Angels pitching allowed six runs in the bottom of the eighth inning in the loss, which dropped them to 21-19 on the season. The Angels are 3.5 games back of the first-place Rangers at the time of this posting in the American League West.

The Astros and Mariners are both right behind the Angels though, 0.5 games behind.

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