Max Muncy’s 2024: A Year of Growth and Challenges

The Dodgers entered the 2024 season under tremendous pressure, and boy, did they respond in the best possible way. They overcame a ton of adversity for a team with their resources to go on and win it all. Perhaps no single player better personifies that trajectory than Max Muncy.

Muncy’s individual pressure came primarily as an inescapable consequence of Shohei Ohtani’s signing, a move that completely blocked the Dodgers’ DH position for the next decade. Freddie Freeman wasn’t going anywhere at first base.

The Dodgers held a $14 million option on Muncy for the 2024 season and that virtually became guaranteed as he signed a two-year deal worth $24 million last November, including a team option at $10 million for 2026. No matter how you look at it, Muncy took less money to stay in LA and didn’t even get the benefit of long-term security, as the Dodgers was rightfully iffy on tying itself long-term to a bad defender without a place to hide him.

Fast forward to the end of the 2024 campaign and beyond his best-hitting numbers since 2021, undoubtedly the most encouraging aspect of Muncy’s 2024 season was his significant improvement with the glove, playing a solid third base.

After back-to-back seasons below the 15th percentile in Outs Above Average, Muncy’s performance put him in the 64th mark across 2024, the kind of improvement that gives you peace of mind about the sustainability of this role. A much better defender at first, Muncy could’ve been much happier and comfortable just running down his deal with the Dodgers and getting more money to cover first elsewhere, instead, he chose to stay with Los Angeles. The improvement was so good that in the Dodgers’ crucial postseason moments, it wasn’t Muncy who was leaving late for a defensive replacement, it was Teoscar Hernández. Something that would’ve never been the case in 2023 or 2022.

Unfortunately for Muncy, he wasn’t able to stay healthy enough during the regular season to fight for what would’ve been the first Silver Slugger Award of his career (Muncy wrapped up the year with a .858 OPS whereas Manny Machado who took home the award didn’t eclipse the .800 mark).

Muncy started the year really well with a six-game hitting streak capped by a go-ahead two-run homer to guarantee the win in the series finale of the opening set versus the St. Louis Cardinals.

Moving a few weeks down the line, there was an interesting part of Muncy’s season in the middle of April that shows you how random a sport baseball truly is.

Between April 10th and the 14th, the Dodgers played four games, three against the Padres and one versus the Twins. Muncy homered in three of those four, and what did they have in common? The Dodgers lost all of them despite leading at one point in each one.

The cause of Muncy’s lengthy absence was an oblique injury he suffered in the middle of May as the Dodgers got set to play the Reds. Muncy was out until August 19 when a chiropractic adjustment proved to be the difference maker in getting him ready to swing a bat following an issue that didn’t seem to want to go away.

Muncy’s return gave him ample time to ready himself for the ultimate goal of an October run, and he didn’t take long to find his groove. Muncy walked 24 times in the 30 starts following his return until the end of the regular season, with a .520 slugging percentage in that period.

The Dodgers had different driving forces across their three postseason series and Muncy’s time to shine came in the NLCS as he broke the single postseason record with 12 consecutive plate appearances reaching base safely.

Luckily for the Dodgers, Muncy’s hitless performance in the World Series didn’t prove costly as other guys picked him up, just like he did for some of them against the Mets. In all, he hit .163/.388/.367 with a 127 wRC+ during the postseason.

2024 particulars

Age: 33

Stats: 73 games, .232/.358/.494, 15 HR, 48 RBI, 135 wRC+, 3.0 rWAR, 2.4 fWA.

Salary: $12 million ($7 million salary plus $5 million signing bonus)

Game of the year

On May 4 against the Braves, Muncy homered three times in a blowout win at home. It was the first three-homer game of Muncy’s career.

Roster status

Muncy will earn $12 million in 2025 in the second season of his two-year deal. The Dodgers hold a $10 million club option for 2026, with no buyout.