When the regular season begins on April 7, Max Muncy expects to be in the lineup for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He told reporters, including The Athletic's Fabian Ardaya, he feels good following last season's left elbow injury, and he's been hitting since January. "It's one of those injuries that may not be back to normal until next year, who knows?" Muncy added.
Here's Muncy taking batting practice at the team's spring training complex Saturday:
Muncy suffered an ulnar collateral ligament injury (the Tommy John surgery ligament) in the final game of the regular season last year. An errant throw brought his arm into the running path of Brewers utility man Jace Peterson, and the two collided at first base. Muncy missed the postseason, and in November, he said he was unsure he'd be ready for Opening Day.
The elbow is doing well enough that, in addition to taking batting practice, Muncy also took ground balls at second base Saturday. Muncy has played 155 games at second in the big leagues (the shift makes it easier to hide subpar defenders at second nowadays) and this is notable because the Dodgers are said to be pursuing free agent first baseman Freddie Freeman.
Although a Freeman signing would force Muncy to move off first base, his usual position, he is in favor of signing the 2020 NL MVP.
"I think he would be pretty incredible in this lineup. He's one of the best hitters in the game," Muncy told reporters, including Ardaya and MLB.com's Juan Toribio, on Saturday. "Any team would be happy to have him, especially us."
Of course, the National League is getting the designated hitter this season, so the Dodgers would not need to play Muncy at second base should they sign Freeman. They could simply put him at DH (with Chris Taylor or Gavin Lux at second), which might be a good idea early in the season, just to take it easy on the elbow.
Last season, the 31-year-old Muncy authored a .249/.368/.527 batting line with 36 home runs in 144 games prior to the injury. Since his 2018 breakout, he ranks fourth among all hitters in home runs (118) and 13th among qualified hitters in OPS+ (136).
