The Los Angeles Dodgers finished off a 7-1 road trip against the Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants, and received contributions throughout from Max Muncy as he tries to rebound from a slow start to the season.
Muncy hit a home run on Monday, which was the 18th of his career against the Giants and seventh at Oracle Park, which tied him with Fernando Tatis Jr. for most by a visiting player.
After struggling for most of the season, Muncy has been swinging the bat better of late, collecting at least one hit in seven of his last nine games. He was not in the lineup for the middle games of the series with the Giants, but returned Thursday and hit an opposite-field double.
The two-time All-Star credited the recent success to making some adjustments to his swing during the Dodgers’ road trip, via SportsNet LA:
“It’s been good. We made a couple changes. This whole year has been trying to get my elbow to work the way it needs to work. My body has been overcompensating for it, so we made some changes in the swing and kind of how I’m setting up. It’s just a different way to get my shoulders down and my elbow to work properly. It’s been a good road trip.”
As for the extent of his changes, Muncy explained he is standing further back in the batter’s box:
“It was just a little different approach. We’re doing a step back, and that’s not something I’ve ever done before. It’s more movement, but it’s putting me in a good position and I’m seeing the ball really well right now. And I’m able to get the barrel to it, which is the most important thing. I’m able to pull the trigger on some pitches and fight off some tough pitches. I’ve just got to stick with it and hopefully it can allow me to get back to my old swing and perform better.”
Time will tell if the mechanical adjustments will prove beneficial for Muncy, but he certainly has looked more like his old self over the past week or so. Even without results not yet fully bearing out, Muncy’s at-bat quality has kept consistent and improved on earlier this year.
In 85 games this season, Muncy is batting .168/.313/.319 with 11 doubles, 10 home runs and 34 RBI across 347 plate appearances.
Dave Roberts ‘counting on’ Max Muncy
While the 2022 season as a whole has been a struggle for Muncy, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is maintaining confidence a turnaround will come.
“I think that we were certainly hoping for more production from when he came back, but there’s still a lot of baseball left,” Roberts recently said.
“So I’m counting on him. I’m still going to continue to give Max leash. I believe in him.”
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