‘He’s on a mission’: How Max Muncy quelled concerns about his defense at third base

Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy fields the ball during the fourth inning of Wednesday’s game against the Marlins. Muncy has played 23 straight errorless games this season.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

 

 

The first three-homer game of his big-league career last weekend was “a really cool moment,” Max Muncy said, but as much as the Dodgers third baseman digs the long ball, he’s just as pleased with the ground balls he’s digging out of the dirt and the long throws he’s making to first base.

Muncy had a rough defensive start to the season, just like he did in 2023, committing one fielding error and misplaying two catchable grounders that were ruled hits in the season-opening series against the San Diego Padres in South Korea and making another fielding error in an April 6 game against the Cubs in Chicago.

Mike DiGiovanna has been covering Major League Baseball for the Los Angeles Times since 1995 and spent 19 years as the Angels beat writer and two seasons on the Dodgers. He won Associated Press Sports Editors awards for game-story writing in 2001, feature-story writing in 2017 and breaking news in 2019. A native of East Lyme, Conn., and a graduate of Cal State Fullerton, he began writing for The Times in 1981.