One of the biggest surprises in all of baseball this season has been the emergence of Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Max Muncy, who went from starting the season with Triple-A Oklahoma City to being one of the best hitters in all of baseball.
The Major League Baseball All-Star teams were announced on Sunday, and Matt Kemp and Kenley Jansen were named the Dodgers representatives, while Muncy was not.
He was named to the National League Final Vote though, so Dodger fans have a chance to get Muncy into the game by voting, as they did last year with Justin Turner.
Regardless of if Muncy makes the team or not though, it appears that he will be finding his way to Washington D.C. anyway as in a radio interview he revealed that he will be competing in the Home Run Derby with hitting coach Turner Ward pitching to him, via Pedro Moura of The Athletic:
Max Muncy said on the Dodgers’ radio station that he will be competing in next week’s Home Run Derby.
— Pedro Moura (@pedromoura) July 9, 2018
With Muncy participating, this will be the fifth straight year that the Dodgers have a player in the Home Run Derby as Yasiel Puig was in it in 2014, followed by Joc Pederson in 2015, Corey Seager in 2016 and Cody Bellinger a year ago.
In 66 games for the Dodgers this season, Muncy is hitting .270/.410/.617 with 20 home runsand 38 RBI. He is among the league leaders in almost every offensive category, including leading the NL with a 1.027 on-base plus slugging percentage among all players with at least 240 plate appearances.
So he certainly is deserving of being in the event as well as the All-Star Game next week at Nationals Park.
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