Max Muncy has been one of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ most productive hitters since 2018, but the first month of this season has told a different story.
In 78 at-bats, Muncy has managed to hit just .167/.283/.231 with no home runs, four runs scored and four RBI. He’s also struck out in roughly 36% of his plate appearances, and his walk rate is down about 3% from Muncy’s career norm.
Despite production that ranks near the bottom of the league this season, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is keeping some patience as the team works to figure out the issue.
“I would say that it would be higher if he hasn’t done this seemingly every single year,” Roberts said of his panic level regarding Muncy. “It seems like he goes through stretches where he’s really scuffling, and he always finds a way to get out of it.
“But when you’re in it, it certainly doesn’t feel good, and Max feels it more than anyone. Our hitting coaches, Max himself, and myself, are trying to find ways to expedite this slump or struggle he is in right now.”
As Roberts pointed out, Muncy does always have some poor stretches, and it comes with the nature of being one of the more streaky hitters on the team.
In 2024, Muncy hit .175 with a .255 on-base percentage in May. In 2023, Muncy batted .186/.273/.402 in May and .111/.259/.222 in June.
Muncy’s 2022 season was the biggest struggle as he hit just .164/.320/.319 in the first half, and in 2021, he batted .189 with a .291 on-base percentage in August.
Even going back to Muncy’s 2019 season, he had a poor July where he hit .203 with a .776 on-base plus slugging, far below his stats in every other month that year.
But even during those struggles, Muncy hit the occasional homer, and that power helped him stay somewhat productive. The 34-year-old has yet to hit a home run during the 2025 season, and his .237 slugging percentage is the worst it’s been since 2016 when he was released by the Oakland Athletics.
“Yeah, it’s interesting. There’s some balls that are barreled that aren’t going out, but also there’s still a lot of swing and miss,” Roberts said. “So it’s all sort of right now pretty puzzling. But I know he’s trying to find his way up.
“But yeah, I mean, to think through April, he hasn’t hit a homer, I think that surprises everyone.”
The good news for Muncy is his expected slugging percentage of .427 paints hope that some of his issues are related to bad luck. Not all of them, of course, but it is some reason for optimism.
That’s backed by a strong 90.8 mph average exit velocity, a barrel rate that’s in the 78th percentile among all hitters, and a hard hit rate that’s in the 83rd percentile.
Better times should be ahead for Muncy as long as he maintains his ability to hit the ball hard and can cut down on the strikeouts by a few percentage points.
Max Muncy not worried about lack of home runs
Just five home runs shy of 200 for his career, many would have bet coming into the season that Muncy would be there by May.
While his lack of home run production is frustrating, he’s more focused on having quality of his plate appearances.
“I don’t care about the homer as much as I care about just having good at-bats,” Muncy recently 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.”
While the unselfish play from Muncy and willingness to put the team first is something to applaud, Roberts did push back on Muncy’s assessment a bit, noting that good at-bats also include doing damage at the plate.
“I appreciate that, and I agree with that, but there’s also times where a quality at-bat is also when you get a pitch in the hitting zone to move it forward, and that goes with all hitters,” Roberts said. “And so it’s not about the number of pitches you see, it’s about getting your pitch and doing something with it.
“And so that’s kind of the message for everyone, right? And not trying to chase how many pitches you can accrue in an at-bat, but the quality at-bat for me is you get a good pitch to hit, your pitch, and you hit it hard, and we’ll take whatever results from that.”
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