San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Muncy’s long road from A’s to L. A., Series
Max Muncy lives a short ride from the site of the World Series in Arlington, Texas, but he hasn’t been able to go home because he’s in baseball’s playoff bubble.
“Not being able to see our house, see our friends, see our family, not even allowed to have our pets, it’s been extremely difficult,” said Muncy, the Dodgers’ cleanup hitter and former A’s prospect.
“But we’re really close to the end, and hopefully it’s something that’s going to all be worth it.”
Muncy, who hit a tworun single in Friday’s 62 win in Game 3 and RBI single in Saturday’s 87 loss in Game 4, which tied the series at 22, knows exactly what he’ll do once it’s over. Friends and family can wait.
“The first thing we’ll do is pick up our pets,” said Muncy, who graduated from nearby Keller High School. “Those are our kids,
our family.”
Muncy is far removed from his days with the A’s, who released him at the end of spring training in 2017, but the dismissal remains a major piece of his stunning journey that has gotten him to two wins from a World Series championship, the Dodgers’ first since 1988.
Looking back, Muncy concedes he set out to prove the A’s wrong: “There’s always a motivation like that for anybody. If you’re ever released from a team or traded from a team, there’s always some type of motivation.” Muncy had two fabulous seasons in Los Angeles, hitting 35 home runs in both 2018 and 2019, but he hit .192 in the 2020 regular season. He said he was “freezing and jumping out of the way” of pitches on the inner half of the plate after breaking a wrist in September 2019 and a finger in July.
No worries. The Dodgers stuck with him, knowing his plate discipline and ability to draw a walk would set him apart even when he wasn’t hitting. In fact, while Muncy is batting .245 in the postseason, he leads all Dodgers with a .444 onbase percentage because he has drawn 19 walks to complement his 13 hits.
No other Dodger has more than 10 walks, and only two players in postseason history walked more than Muncy: Barry Bonds 27 in 2002 ( 13 of those were intentional) and Gary Sheffield 20 ( none intentional) in 1997.
“All throughout September, I knew he was close,” manager Dave Roberts said. “The numbers weren’t showing it, but as far as his atbat quality, it continued to get better. Every single time he’s in the batters’ box, I feel good, and to be able to have him at the 4, it just makes everybody around him that much better.”
Roberts’ trust has paid off. Friday, with first base open and two aboard in the third inning, Charlie Morton threw a high slider, and Muncy lined it into center field. It gave the Dodgers a 30 lead, which is all starter Walker Buehler and three relievers needed.
Saturday’s hit put the Dodgers ahead 31, and they were up 76 with two outs in the ninth, but Brett Phillips hit a wacky gameending single to score Kevin Kiermaier and, thanks to the Dodgers botching the play ( including Muncy’s cutoff throw), Randy Arozarena.
Muncy also drove in two runs in Game 2 of the Division Series against the Padres ( a 65 win), hit a tworun homer in the ninth inning of Game 2 of the NLCS against the Braves ( an 87 win) and a grand slam to spark an 11run first inning in NLCS Game 3.
Through it all, the A’s remain a significant part of Muncy’s narrative because of how he ascended after Oakland, where he was unimpressive, a .195 hitter in 96 bigleague games and not exactly a defensive whiz anywhere.
“One of the things I talk about the most is the mental adversity I had to overcome,” Muncy said. “Not just what happened on the field, but things that happened off the field. You come home from the stadium, and you’re not happy. You’re dealing with a lot of stuff. It makes it really difficult.
“So just trying to overcome all that stuff is something I’m most proud of. Just regaining the little kid in me. Going out there and, regardless what happens, enjoying my time and being thankful I get to go out there and play baseball every single day.” Muncy was 26 when released by the A’s, and he didn’t know whether he’d play in the majors again. He considered playing in Japan or South Korea. And independent ball. And going back to school for his degree in business.
Then Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi, now the Giants’ president of baseball operations, knew of Muncy from their days together with the A’s, and Los Angeles offered a minorleague contract.
Muncy spent the 2017 season at TripleA Oklahoma City refurbishing his game, and he credited his father, Lee, and TripleA hitting coach, Shawn Wooten, for altering his approach at the plate ( to better lift the ball) and improving his aggressiveness and confidence.
Muncy was called up early in 2018, quickly found a home and displayed enough power to receive an invitation to the Home Run Derby. In 2019, he was an AllStar for the first time.
For A’s fans, Muncy is one who got away. For Giants fans, he’s the one who said, “Go get it out of the ocean,” delivering a legendary popoff after Madison Bumgarner objected to Muncy admiring the ball he blasted into McCovey Cove.
For Dodgers fans, he’s one of several reclamation projects, along with Justin Turner and Chris Taylor — players grabbed off the scrap heap and turned into differencemakers for a team within reach of the championship.