The Los Angeles Dodgers played their third intrasquad game of Summer Camp on Wednesday night, but Max Muncy was held out of workouts and the lineup as he remains on the mend from a left ring finger injury.
“It hurts but it still feels good,” Muncy said. He addressed media via Zoom and sat inside the Dodger Stadium interview room with his finger wrapped. “It’s not as bad as it could have been, thankfully.
“It’s kind of just a pain tolerance thing. If this was the regular season or playoff situation, I’d be able to find a way to be in there. But there’s no point in rushing it right now. We’re feeling pretty good that I’ll be more than ready for Opening Day.”
Muncy sustained the injury when he was hit by a pitch that in some part stemmed from a new batter’s eye now in place at Dodger Stadium as part of the center field plaza portion of completed renovations.
“Just never saw it and it came up and in on me and hit me right in the finger,” he explained. “It’s just something we’ll have to get used to. It’s different than what we’ve had here. I will say I know pitchers are pretty happy about the batter’s eye out there. It’s just something we have to get used to.”
Muncy wasn’t certain of a timeline for progression with baseball activities, though in the meantime intends to still keep up with some workouts. “I haven’t tried gripping a bat yet. Like I said, we’ve been taking it pretty slow,” he said.
“There’s no reason to rush, no reason to come back too soon. I can move it pretty good right now but it’s one of those things where it’s still painful. Just got to deal with it.”
The Dodgers are two weeks from beginning the 2020 season with a home matchup against the San Francisco Giants. Muncy cited his previous feeling as reason he isn’t concerned about missing a stretch of the short ramp up to July 23.
No doubt for 2020
Coming off a first career All-Star season, the 29-year-old never considered opting out of playing the 2020 season that’s attempting to be staged amid a pandemic.
“For me, it was never an issue,” Muncy said. “I was going to play 100%, no matter what the situation was. It’s just one of those things where I’ve been out of baseball before. I know how much I love baseball and I’ll do everything I can to play it during the years I have left.
“We only have a certain window to play this game and I don’t want to miss any more time than I already have.”
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