Dodgers: Max Muncy is Playing Like An All Star
Much has been made of the season Cody Bellinger is having and rightfully so. Bellinger has put together a quite an impressive 1st half. What you likely haven’t heard much about is how incredible of a season Max Muncy is having. In fact, the most you’ve probably heard about him was his little clapback to Madison Bumgarner’s grumpiness. While that did make for some fun stories and even funnier t-shirts, Mr. Go-Get-It-Out-Of-The-Ocean has actually been putting together some All Star numbers of his own and deserves the official label.
While Muncy started with a very slow (but serviceable) March/April hitting just .247/.345/.462 with a .808 OPS, 5 home runs, and 17 RBIs, he really heated up in the following month. In the month of May, Muncy quietly hit .302/.391/.583 with a .974 OPS, 7 home runs, and 18 RBIs.
Overall, his May numbers raised his season totals to .275/.368/.524 with a .892 OPS, 12 home runs, and 25 RBIs. June has been quite similar.
Through May and June, Max Muncy has been unreasonably successful. pic.twitter.com/Oo2rtRdmDQ
— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) June 30, 2019
Heading into Saturday’s contest, Muncy had continued his offensive tear into June. He’s hit .306/.429/.635 with a 1.064 OPS, another 8 home runs, and 22 RBIs. This has further lifted his 2019 season stats to .281/.383/.550 with a .933 OPS, 20 home runs, and 57 RBIs. Not too shabby for a guy that everyone was concerned might be a one hit wonder and couldn’t replicate his 2018 season. In fact, he’s actually on pace to finish better!
Max Muncy came into the game ranked in the NL top 10 in:
· WAR for position players: 3.6 (4th)
· Win Probability Added: 3.2 (3rd)
· OPS+: 146 (7th)
· Weighted Runs Created Plus: 148 (8th)
· Home runs: 20 (T-9th)
· RBI: 57 (T-9th)
· OPS: .946 (10th)— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) June 30, 2019
From May 1st – present, Max Muncy’s numbers have been second to one on the Dodgers. That one? 2019 All-Star outfielder, Cody Bellinger. In all actuality, Muncy even surpasses Bellinger in some categories during that time frame.
May 1 – June 29
Cody Bellinger
.298/.407/.595 w/ a .998 OPS, 54 Hits, 12 doubles, 13 HRs, & 28 RBIsMax Muncy
.297/.402/.595 w/ a .996 OPS, 55 Hits, 10 doubles, 15 HRs, & 40 RBIs#MaxMuncy #FunkyMuncy #Dodgers #DodgersNation #LABleedsBlue #AllStar @DodgersNation #AllStarMuncy— Jason McClure?? (@Jmcclure83) June 30, 2019
Max is actually outpacing Cody in home runs and RBIs, among other things, which is really impressive. His manager Dave Roberts recently had some fine words for Muncy, and is an advocate for him being a 2019 All-Star.
He’s an all-star. Any way you slice it.
One Bellinger-esque player on a team is great, for the past 2 months, the Dodgers have had 2. Basically Max Muncy IS Cody Bellinger minus the month of April. Take away a slow April for Muncy and this team could very well have two players in the MVP race. In fact, one might argue that Bellinger has seen better pitches because Muncy typically bats behind him.
The point is, Muncy has been good all season, but he’s easily been all star caliber 2 of the 3 months this season has been going. Without question Max Muncy deserves to be an all-star.
