CINCINNATI — In baseball terms, Max Muncy has lost his superpower.
Over his past 35 games before Sunday, the Dodgers first baseman has been mired in a slump, batting .197 with a .275 on-base percentage almost 100 points lower than his career norm.
Muncy has continued to hit home runs (11 in that time) but he has stopped drawing walks — only 12 in 142 plate appearances after drawing a walk every 6.2 plate appearances before this downturn. The walks have been replaced by strikeouts — 37 in his past 127 at-bats including six in seven at-bats during the first two games in Cincinnati.
“No. 1 is he’s chasing more. It’s very clear,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think he has an elite ability to look over a baseball and stay in the strike zone. The last 30 days he’s chased. He’s run into some homers which has been great. But I think he’s more than a one-dimensional home run hitter. He’s an on-base guy, uses the whole field.”
Roberts did not offer an explanation for Muncy’s drift away from his normal approach but he did raise the possibility that Muncy — who has been in the NL MVP discussion — might have become too aware of his statistics.
“You don’t ever want to think someone is chasing numbers,” Roberts said. “I just think literally and figuratively he’s chasing and he’s expanding. We’ve got to get him back in the strike zone. That’s when he’s his best.”
Roberts replaced Muncy in the starting lineup Sunday against Reds left-hander Wade Miley (against whom Muncy is 1 for 5 with two strikeouts in his career) with Albert Pujols (4 for 18 with two home runs off Miley previously), hoping that the back-to-back days off (the Dodgers are off Monday) would give Muncy a chance to “re-set.”
It is probably not coincidental that the Dodgers’ offense as a whole has not been as productive with Muncy slumping. First in the National League and second in baseball in runs scored at the All-Star break, the Dodgers have dropped to eighth in the National League and 15th overall since the break.
Roberts acknowledged that what Muncy brings to the Dodgers’ lineup is “very” essential. He pointed to last year’s postseason when “we saw his best.” Muncy hit .250 during the Dodgers’ World Series run but had a .438 on-base percentage thanks to 20 walks in 18 games. He drove in 14 runs and scored 12.
“I do know that his ability to get on base and drive runs in is what makes him special,” Roberts said. “You take what the pitcher gives you. And he’s gotten away from that.
“He’s a top-of-the order, middle-of-the-order guy. What makes us special is to be able to run counts and to get on base and create traffic and he’s a big part of that. So when he’s chasing and out of the zone, it’s a big void. … The expectation is he will get back to doing what makes him special.”
VAX UP
In a move first reported by Ken Rosenthal in The Athletic, Major League Baseball has notified teams that all non-playing personnel — managers, coaches and staff — must have received at least one COVID vaccination shot in order to be allowed on the field or in other restricted areas during the postseason.
The requirement could potentially prevent hitting or pitching coaches from working directly with players if those coaches are unvaccinated.
The Dodgers reached the 85 percent threshold of Tier 1 personnel (players, coaches and staff) vaccinated in order to have some protocols relaxed earlier this season. However, when the team went to the White House in July hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc wore a mask and fellow hitting coach Brant Brown did not attend.
“I know it’s not a problem for me personally. I’m vaxxed,” Roberts said. “We did get the memo. We’re going to have some discussions. I don’t want to speak specifically to any coaches right now. But whatever is asked of us we will adhere to. We’ll take care of it.”
Roberts said emphatically he does not anticipate the requirement being a problem for the Dodgers.
“I don’t,’ he said.
BELLINGER OUT
After revealing Saturday that outfielder Cody Bellinger had suffered a non-displaced fracture in his left side earlier in the week, Roberts said he did not expect it to prevent Bellinger from playing and he expected him to be in the lineup Sunday.
Bellinger was not in the starting lineup Sunday.“He’s feeling better. In talking to him yesterday, he was hoping to be able to be in the starting lineup today,” Roberts said Sunday morning. “I talked to him this morning and we feel like with the off day tomorrow it would benefit him more. We’re going to try and stay away from him but if we need to call on him at some point we’ll do so.”
UP NEXT
The Dodgers are off Monday.
Dodgers (LHP Julio Urias 18-3, 2.99 ERA) at Rockies (RHP Antonio Senzatela 4-9, 4.06 ERA) Tuesday 5:40 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM
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Why is Dodgers’ Max Muncy slumping? - OCRegister
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