The Oakland Athletics selected infielder Max Muncy with the 25th overall pick of the 2021 MLB Draft — but not to be confused with the player who has become a two-time All-Star with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Athletics’ Muncy is a shortstop out of Thousand Oaks High School and became one of the top prospects in the country. This is the second time the A’s have drafted a Max Muncy, as they also took the Dodgers’ Muncy in the fourth round of the 2012 MLB Draft.
If Muncy fell to the Dodgers pick at 29th overall, he is a player they would have considered drafting, according to the director of amateur scouting Billy Gasparino.
“You know, we were rooting for that because it would just be such a cool story,” Gasparino said. “I don’t know for sure, but I loved that concept. I’ll just tell you that. I loved it.”
With Muncy off the board, the Dodgers decided to take Maddux Bruns, a high school southpaw out of UMS-Wright Preparatory School in Alabama, who is verbally committed to Mississippi State.
The similarities between the players don’t stop at their names and the organization that drafted them. They also share a birthday.
The Dodgers’ Muncy was born on August 25, 1990, while the A’s’ Muncy was born on August 25, 2002. Despite the similarities, the two are not related.
The A’s released the first Max Muncy they drafted in 2017 before he signed with L.A. and became a superstar, so this is about as close to a do-over as a team can get.
If history continues to repeat, perhaps the Dodgers can have Max Muncy and Max Muncy hitting back-to-back home runs in 2027.
Dodgers’ first-round pick Maddux Bruns
While Bruns doesn’t come with a funny story like Muncy would have, he is the first high school left-hander the team has taken in the first round since drafting Clayton Kershaw in 2006.
The 19-year-old from Saraland, Ala., stands 6’2 with a projectable build. He features a fastball that ranges from 91-93 mph and pairs it with a slider in the mid-80s and a curveball that is in the 70s.
Gasparino is confident the Dodgers can sign Bruns, who expressed a belief that would play out rather than attending Mississippi State.
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