The start of the 2025 season was a tough one for Max Muncy, but the Los Angeles Dodgers continued to keep him in their lineup on an everyday basis.
The 10-year veteran was one of the worst qualified hitters in baseball, ranking 151st out of 168 heading into the final day of April. From the beginning of this season through April 29, Muncy hit just .180/.295/.236 with no home runs, five runs scored and four RBI.
Low batting averages during stretches of a season are nothing new for him, but the lack of his trademark home run ability was particularly worrying.
Muncy finally put an end to the power outage on April 30 with a homer against the Miami Marlins. It ended an unprecedented stretch of 151 plate appearances without a home run, the longest of Muncy’s career and nearly double his previous long of 80 plate appearances.
It marked a turning point in Muncy’s season, as things have begun to click for him at the plate since April 30, and also coincided with a decision to wear glasses during games.
While Muncy already has 20/12 vision, he has noticed a difference with the prescriptive lenses.
“I mean, it’s hard to deny it,” Muncy said. “It’s one of those things where it’s not necessarily something that I need, but any chance at all that it evens out both eyes for me, I’ll take it.
“The results have been there since I’ve been wearing them, so it’s hard to argue against it. You don’t necessarily believe in coincidences when it comes to baseball.”
The difference has been subtle, but the biggest advantage of wearing the glasses has been the fact that his eyes are calibrated more evenly. In particular, Muncy’s left eye has benefited the most.
“It’s just a subtle difference,” Muncy said. “As I’ve talked about, it’s one of those things where, without them, I still have really good vision. But just the chance to take a little bit of stress off my left eye, I thought it would be stupid to not try. So far it’s been working.”
Max Muncy’s stats with glasses on
The difference in results has been stark, as Muncy has hit .258/.385/.548 with eight home runs and a 157 wRC+ since the start of May.
Muncy’s walk rate and strikeout rate have also improved from where they were on May 17, with a noticeable reduction in strikeouts in particular.
“It’s hard to say. I mean, definitely can’t deny it,” Muncy answered when asked if the turnaround can be credited to wearing glasses. “I always say, you don’t really take coincidence in baseball. If you feel like something’s helping you out, then you keep doing it.
“And for me, that’s kind of been the case. It’s hard to deny since I started wearing them, I’ve been hitting the ball better and seeing the ball better.
“Ever since I started wearing them, I feel like I’ve cut my strikeout rate by a lot. And that was a big thing for me, and so it’s kind of hard to deny it.”
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