The Los Angeles Dodgers challenged Max Muncy to improve his defense at third base prior to the 2024 season as he was coming off a rough showing the year prior.
To Muncy’s credit, he made significant strides at the hot corner and became a viable contributor with his bat and glove. Unfortunately, that same level of success has not carried over into this season thus far.
In nearly 200 fewer innings, Muncy’s eight errors on the season have already surpassed his total from 2024. His most recent misuce came during the series finale against the New York Mets on Sunday and contributed to the Dodgers’ 3-1 loss.
On the play, Muncy’s glove stayed neutral and he brought his hands slightly into his body, which allowed the hop to eat him up. Muncy accepted blame for the error and recognized it was a play that should be routine, according to Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“I let it hop up on me instead of going to get it,” Muncy said. “It’s a really frustrating one. It makes you feel like the game is on your shoulders. That’s how I feel, at least. It’s a play that needs to be made, and I should have made it. And it’s just a frustrating one.”
It’s hard to put the blame entirely on Muncy when the Dodgers were only able to push across one run, but it did extend the inning and put an extra base runner on for Pete Alonso’s home run the next at bat.
It is impossible to know how the game could have played out differently if Muncy made the play, but there is no denying it put the Dodgers in a deficit after Shohei Ohtani got them out to an early lead.
Muncy acknowledged his defensive performance isn’t adequate enough, but he also knows dwelling on mistakes without putting in the work to rectify them won’t do him any good:
“It’s tough. It’s one of those things where I’m just really not good defensively right now,” Muncy said. “Not going to shy away from it, but all I can do is keep showing up every day, working on it, trying to figure things out, trying to get better. That’s what I’ve been doing. That’s what I’m gonna keep doing. If you let it get you down, it’s gonna keep getting worse.”
Muncy’s error on Sunday was actually the first fielding mistake he has been charged with this season, with the other seven all being throwing errors. It was also Muncy’s second error of the series against the Mets, with his first coming during Friday’s game.
Additionally, he was involved in a rarely enforced type of obstruction call on Friday, but he ultimately was not personally charged for the error.
Dave Roberts hopes Max Muncy finds more consistency
Muncy also got off to a slow start offensively, going until April 30 without hitting a home run this season. He has been trending upward in his last 15 games, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts hopes to see more consistency the rest of the way.
Have you subscribed to the Dodger Blue YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows and giveaways, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!
