TA is a hacker. He's always going to be hot and cold. I don't think that you can teach a hitter like him to have Moncada's patience. To your larger point, I agree in general. Moncada is more "real" than TA.
I just have a little PTSD with Moncada because he was awesome to start last year too, and then he got hurt a week into May and sucked until September upon his return. I mean, outs are outs. Are infield popups any better than Ks? Not really.