CLEVELAND — Max Muncy knows he has to be better defensively.
“For me, I just gotta keep showing up every single day, and keep working as hard as I can to figure it out,” Muncy said after his eighth error of the season led to two unearned runs in the Dodgers’ loss to the New York Mets on Sunday night.
“I know I haven’t shown it. But I know I can be a good defender. And so I got to keep believing in myself and just keep showing up and putting in the work.”
Any way you measure it, Muncy has not been a good defender this season.
The arrivals of Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani with the Dodgers (removing first base and DH as options for Muncy) and rule changes that banned the shift (taking second base away as an option) combined to make Muncy a full-time third baseman beginning in 2023. He led the majors in errors at the position that first season (16), made some significant improvements in 2024 (when injury limited him to 73 games during the regular season) – but has regressed in the first two months of this season, ranking near the bottom among third basemen in every fielding category.
“Sometimes it’s a range thing. Sometimes it’s a throwing thing. Sometimes it’s getting the ball out of the glove and sometimes it’s been just not catching it cleanly,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Monday. “I know he’s frustrated. I see him working consistently every day. So that’s what I’m going to keep betting on. But, yeah, he’s still got to make the plays.”
Roberts offered no explanation for Muncy’s struggles at the position, declining to pin it on playing a position that he would probably not be asked to on a team without Freeman and Ohtani in the lineup every day.
“I don’t know that answer,” Roberts said. “I feel that he has an accurate throwing arm – but at times it’s inaccurate. I feel that he catches the ball cleanly – but at times he doesn’t. I think he can get to his arm and get the ball out of his glove – but at times it doesn’t.
“I see a good defender. But I understand the statistics, the numbers, all that stuff. That’s why I’m just as frustrated as he is because I see a good defender at third base.”
Muncy’s offensive struggles have shined a harsher light on his defense this season. After averaging a home run every 17.6 plate appearances in his first seven seasons with the Dodgers, he has just two in almost 200 plate appearances this season while batting .210 with a .670 OPS.
“I think the offense was certainly not good early,” Roberts said. “But I do feel the last few weeks the consistent quality of at-bat, the hard contact – if you can kind of look at that small sample of three weeks I think it’s been pretty good. Even with some of the defensive struggles.”
EDMAN OUT
Tommy Edman was not in the starting lineup Monday. Roberts said it was just a day off to break up the six-day road trip. But the utility man has been in a slump since returning from his ankle injury. He had just three hits in his first 23 at-bats (.130) after being activated from the injured list.
“Even a little bit before he went on the IL,” Roberts pointed out. “I think he wasn’t particularly in a good spot and that’s right-handed and left-handed. I think there’s certainly a lot more chase below from Tommy. There’s a couple little things that he could potentially change I think to get him in a better spot.”
Edman hit eight home runs in his first 24 games this season with a .272 average and .879 OPS. Since then, though, he has hit .143(6 for 42) with no home runs.
“I think it’s swing mechanics. I don’t think it’s the health part,” Roberts said. “I think it’s swing mechanics.”
ALSO
The Angels signed former Dodgers utility man Chris Taylor. The veteran was released by the Dodgers last week.
UP NEXT
Dodgers (RHP Dustin May, 2-4, 4.09 ERA) at Guardians (RHP Tanner Bibee, 4-4, 3.57 ERA), Tuesday, 3:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM
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