See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search. Set us as preferred
When the Oakland Athletics released Max Muncy before the 2017 season, the then-26-year-old didn’t know if a baseball career was for him anymore, let alone a future at third base.
“Man, there’s a lot with that,” Muncy told The Times. “It’s just a lot.”
Then, the Dodgers came calling, signing Muncy to a minor-league contract in late April 2017.
And now — nine seasons, three All-Star nods and three World Series championships later — Muncy just eclipsed 10 years of service time on Sunday against the Brewers, eight days before his 36th birthday.
Tarik Skubal has yet to have a Cy Young-caliber start for the Dodgers, but at least he’s battling. The rest of the team is in a much worse funk.
“It’s special. It’s a rare accomplishment in baseball,” Muncy said of the feat that fewer than 10% of all MLB players reach. “It’s something that I’m extremely proud of. There’s not many things that I take personal pride in when it comes to, you know, personal accomplishments. For me, it’s always about winning rings and doing things as a team.
“But this is one of the few that I’m really, really proud of, and I’ll definitely cherish.”
No one could’ve foreseen the unobtrusively great career that Muncy has carved out for himself, specifically over the last nine seasons in Los Angeles since getting called up in 2018.
Entering this week’s three-game series in Colorado against the Rockies, Muncy is the Dodgers’ all-time playoff home run leader with 16 and is fifth on the franchise’s all-time home runs list with 233. He has slashed .234/.357/.486 over 1,039 regular-season games with the club, anchoring lineups alongside countless big-name teammates while evolving into a trustworthy defender.
Even someone who’s seen Muncy’s journey up close like Dodgers reliever Brock Stewart, who was also vying for a big-league opportunity in Triple-A Oklahoma City during that forever-ago 2017 season, is still moved by his ascent.
“He’s always been a good teammate [and] always been a good human,” Stewart said. “I don’t know if he always believed in himself, and I can relate to that, because I didn’t believe in myself all the time … But to see him and how he persevered through that feeling [or] that self-doubt and became what he is now [is] super special.
“And, man, to know that he’s now the Dodger [Stadium] all-time home run leader? Whatever it is … after being an older guy in Triple-A with me and then getting called up … special.”
In retrospect, though, this was always Muncy’s destiny.
He’s long been a manager’s dream, a status that is timeless and priceless.
