Though he opened up the 2018 season with Triple-A Oklahoma City, Max Muncy made his biggest impact at the Major League level, emerging as a legitimate, middle-of-the-order power bat for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He hit a career-high 35 home runs that year and played his way into the club’s future, solidifying a much more established role the following season. Muncy was included on the Dodgers’ Opening Day roster in 2019 and didn’t miss a beat.
He only improved on production from the previous year, but also earned MVP votes and All-Star honors for the first time in his career.
During a recent appearance on “Dodger Talk,” Muncy explained he is heading into Spring Training this year with the mentality that he has to continue proving himself, via David Vassegh of AM 570 L.A. Sports:
“The biggest thing for me is I was trying to go into Spring Training and act like I hadn’t done it before, because I don’t want to get complacent. I don’t want to act like it’s not that big of a deal, I don’t have to work hard anymore, I made it. I didn’t want any of those thoughts creeping into my head, so I tried to act like I hadn’t done anything yet. I was going into Spring Training acting like I had to prove myself all over again. As far as I’m concerned, that’s what I’m doing this year too. That’s kind of the mindset that I have. I don’t ever want to get complacent, I want to keep working as hard as I can to be able to go out there and play as hard as I can.”
As Muncy points out, he made it a priority last year to continue standing out as opposed to simply coasting and taking his recent success for granted.
His breakout performance in 2018 all but assured he would be guaranteed a spot on the Dodgers’ Opening Day roster the following season. But that didn’t sway the 29-year-old into changing his approach, even with Spring Training having a different feel to it.
In keeping that same mindset, Muncy hopes his third season with the Dodgers is just as successful as the first two.
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