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Dodgers’ Max Muncy is done taking chances with bouncing balls

April 4, 2023

LOS ANGELES ― It’s been several years since Max Muncy wore a protective cup on the field before Monday, when he returned to the Dodgers’ lineup two days after a ground ball hit him in a sensitive area of a man’s body.

Just as there was a strong impetus for Muncy to wear a cup upon his return, there was a specific reason he stopped wearing one midway through his career.

“Back when I played first base, I felt like I got too comfortable wearing (ground balls) off the chest and tossing (the ball) to the pitcher at first base,” he said. “When I started playing other positions, I started doing the same thing and I wasn’t very good. So I talked to someone and they said, ‘you have to trust your hands more.’

“I said, ‘how do you do that,’ and they said, ‘stop wearing a cup.’ The second I did that, I immediately started getting a lot better in the field.”

The lack of a defensive position was an issue for Muncy as an amateur. Steve Smith, who coached Muncy at Baylor, once recalled, “I remember one scout was asked where Max would play and he said, ‘As far away from the ball as possible.’”

Muncy played five different positions, as well as designated hitter, during his two partial seasons (2015-16) with the Oakland A’s to begin his major league career.

With the Dodgers, Muncy grew comfortable moving from first base to second base to third, sometimes alternating positions within the same game. With more regular playing time, his bat took off. He made the National League All-Star teams in 2019 and 2021, and became a fixture in the middle of the Dodgers’ lineup.

“It became a thing where (not wearing a cup) forced me to trust my hands, let my hands work in a natural way,” Muncy said. “It just got to a point where over time I was feeling better on defense without it, so I never went back to wearing one.”

Until now.

Muncy is optimistic that the muscle memory he developed without the cup is retained, and that he still trusts his hands – not his chest – to make the play at third base. But he won’t take a chance playing baseball unprotected, even though the injury caused him to miss only one game.

“You see the guys who wear elbow guards that never wore them before– all it takes is one time and then you start wearing it,” he said.

GONSOLIN UPDATE

Speaking to reporters for the first time since he sprained his ankle in spring training, pitcher Tony Gonsolin said he will need only a few minor league rehab starts before returning to the Dodgers’ starting rotation.

“I feel fortunate enough that last year’s spring was a little bit shortened, so I know that I don’t need so many (starts) to feel comfortable going into the season,” he said. “Maybe no more than four at the most. Whatever gets me built up to the five innings, 60, 75 pitches, whatever it is.”

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Gonsolin will head to the Dodgers’ Camelback Ranch facility in Glendale, Arizona to pitch to teammates Wednesday. He will remain in extended spring training until the Dodgers are comfortable enough with his per-inning pitch count to assign him to a minor league affiliate.

The right-hander didn’t expect the injury to cost him more than a week or two at first. Now, nearly three weeks later, he has enough perspective to crack a joke about the injury, which he suffered during a fielding drill.

“It was a freak thing. I was trying to throw a ball across my body, like, be a little athletic,” Gonsolin said, “and my body was done being athletic for the day.”

UP NEXT

Dodgers (LHP Julio Urías, 1-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. Colorado Rockies (RHP German Marquez, 1-0, 3.00 ERA), Tuesday, 7 p.m., SportsNet LA, MLB Network (out of market only), 570 AM

Orange County Register

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Dodgers’ Max Muncy is done taking chances with bouncing balls

GONSOLIN UPDATE

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