Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy might not win a Gold Glove at the hot corner, but he is becoming a reliable defender there this season, displaying an improved range and accurate arm. The work he put in this offseason was part of a bigger plan, though.
“Me, Mookie, Miggy, Lux, Kiké [Hernández], we’re all out there every single day trying to be as good as possible,” Muncy told Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times. “All anyone talked about during spring training was how terrible of a defensive team we were gonna be, and we want to prove everyone wrong.”
Muncy had a rough start to the season in Seoul, South Korea. He committed one error and misplayed two ground balls that were ruled hits — then committed another error on April 6 against the Chicago Cubs.
Since then, Muncy has been nearly flawless, stringing together 23 straight errorless games. He is entering a weekend series at San Diego with three defensive runs saved. According to FanGraphs, that ranks third in the game among 18 qualified third basemen.
We have to give credit to Max Muncy for the amazing defense the Dodgers showed this weekend! Think about how much work he's been putting in with Dino Ebel! https://t.co/xcgsIHBywd
— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) May 6, 2024
“Yeah, absolutely,” Muncy said when asked if he was as proud of his three defensive runs saved. “Obviously, it wasn’t the best start to the season … but I got deathly sick [with norovirus] in the three days before we went to South Korea.
“We had a 14-hour flight, we’re playing on the other side of the world, and my eyes were acting weird. They were pumping us full of vitamins to try to make our bodies feel right. And when we got back here, I was still feeling sick. Then, after I got over that, all of a sudden, everything turned around for me, and I feel like I’ve been in a really good spot.”
The Dodgers absorbed the criticism about their defense and put in the work this offseason to flip the script. They enter Friday’s game with 25 team defensive runs saved, according to Sports Info Solutions, the second-best total behind Kansas City (35).
