Max Muncy has been a key piece of the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup since 2018 when he had a breakout season and developed into one of the most productive sluggers in baseball.
However, Muncy is now 34 years old and started off the 2025 season seemingly lost at the plate. That raised some questions about his viability moving forward as a starting caliber player.
From the start of the season in Tokyo through April 13, Muncy hit just .176/.232/.255 with a 41 wRC+, but perhaps most concerning was his nearly 43% strikeout rate combined with a walk rate of just 7.1%.
Muncy started to show some signs of progress in mid-April, but never fully broke out of his slump. That is until his past three games when he hit .333/.667/.333 with a 226 wRC+.
“He has turned a corner, he has,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “His work’s been good, he’s seeing the ball much better, he’s not as jumpy, not as quick onto his front side. When he’s walking, those are good signs. Again, took the good at-bat versus the left-hander.
“So yeah, when he’s getting on base, and it was a ton this series, then that’s a good thing. So I do think that he’s turned the corner.”
The sample size of just 12 plate appearances is still small, but Muncy seemingly discovered a mechanical issue that was the cause of his struggles. After addressing that, he started to feel more comfortable and find success at the plate.
“It’s just working on mechanics to help slow the ball down,” Muncy said. “The ball sped up on me the first week or two of the season, and I really wasn’t myself. I was chasing a lot of stuff and just wasn’t able to recognize it. Very out of character.
“So for me, it was trying to get the mechanics back down, slowing the ball down. The ironic thing is I spent all offseason and spring trying to hit low liners and ground balls to be more on top of the ball, and that’s what ended up being the root cause of my struggles.
“This whole last week was just trying to hit high fly balls. That allowed me to stay back on my backside and slow the ball down a little bit more. I ended up having lower trajectories in BP, so just found what works.”
And the most encouraging sign of it all? Muncy has been walking again, which he does when he’s been at his best over the course of his career.
In his last three games, Muncy has flipped his strikeout to walk rate as he’s now walking in nearly 42% of his plate appearances and striking out in just 8.3%.
“The last couple games for me have been a whole lot better. Finally getting the ball back in the zone, taking my walks, just kind of doing what I do best,” Muncy said. “That’s see deep counts, get the pitch count up, allow everyone else to be themselves. For me, it’s a huge thing.
“Everything else I know will come with that. For me, the most important thing was getting back to seeing lots of pitches, getting the ball in the zone, and when the ball is in the zone, getting good swings at it. The last three days, I really felt like myself.”
When Muncy is at his best, it adds a significant element to the Dodgers lineup. He’s someone who can provide power at the bottom of the order while also maintaining a high on-base percentage to help set things up for the top of the lineup.
As a whole, the Dodgers offense has underperformed expectations, but getting Muncy back to form can help flip that around.
Max Muncy not worried about lack of home runs
Muncy has yet to hit a home run this season, which is out of character for the left-handed slugger who is just five away from 200 in his career.
Muncy has averaged one homer per 15.5 at-bats throughout his career, but this year he’s at 57 without one. At his normal pace, he would have three to four by now.
“I don’t care about the homer as much as I care about just having good at-bats,” Muncy said. “I know the home runs come whenever they come, and if they don’t, they don’t. As long as I keep having good at-bats, that’s what I care about.
“For me, those first two innings, I was having pretty terrible at-bats and putting my teammates in rough positions. That’s the last thing I want to do, so for me, just having good at-bats allows my teammates to be themselves and have their at-bats is huge for this team.
“I think the last couple days we saw good results out of that and it allows the whole lineup to be deeper. Like I said, even if the hits and stuff aren’t there, as long as I keep seeing a ton of pitches, that helps get to the bullpen and helps other guys see things from the pitcher that maybe they wouldn’t have seen if I had a quick at-bat. For me, these last three games were really good.”
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