One of the Los Angeles Dodgers most convoluted injury sagas of the 2024 season may finally be headed toward a positive conclusion as Max Muncy continues to ride the wave of his sudden and fortuitous breakthrough.
An uncooperative oblique injury that Muncy suffered back in May has left him inactive on the injured list for more than 11 weeks at this point. The situation looked bleak before his most recent breakthrough.
The sudden change has allowed Muncy to get to a place where he can swing the bat comfortably once again and participate in a planned simulated game at Dodger Stadium on Thursday along with some other familiar names.
In anticipation of this significant step in his rehab process, Muncy took it up a notch as participated in batting practice off of a pitching machine, and he is set to begin a rehab assignment soon, manager Dave Roberts said via Vincent Samperio of Bleacher Report:
Max Muncy took some swings today off the velocity machine and felt really good.
He’ll need a rehab assignment. Could be as early as this weekend.
— Vincent Samperio (@vincesince91) August 5, 2024
While it is still early on, recent developments seem to point to Muncy being able rejoin the Dodgers’ lineup this season. It is pretty extraordinary considering it looked like there was a chance that the All-Star third baseman would not return this season.
But in the event that Muncy does suffer another setback, the Dodgers have done a good job at protecting themselves against that possibility with some of the moves they made at the trade deadline, which included adding Amed Rosario and Tommy Edman to improve their infield depth.
What Max Muncy brings to the Dodgers lineup
While the batting average is once again not great for Muncy in 2024, he still brings a lot of value to the table and makes the Dodgers’ lineup better.
Before going on the IL, Muncy was on pace to match his slugging percentage from last season in which he tied a career high with 36 home runs, and 17 doubles. Having him back deepens the Dodgers’ lineup and gives opposing pitchers another power bat to worry about.
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