After suffering an unfortunate injury, Muncy hopes he can trust his hands – and his cup – in the field, but there was a specific reason he stopped wearing one midway through his career.
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.
“Back when I played first base, I felt like I got too comfortable wearing off the chest and tossing 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.’
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.’” 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.
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