Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
Dodgers: Max Muncy Has a Big Request for All MLB Stadiums
In the post moneyball era, scoreboards at baseball stadiums are loaded with oodles of information. The San Diego Padres scoreboard is right at the forefront of displaying almost every statistic imaginable throughout the course of a game. Including, but not limited to, fWAR (FanGraph's calculation of WAR) and BABIP (batting average on balls in play).
The Dodgers, especially one player in particular, took notice. On Friday, left-handed slugger Max Muncy was asked about his performance so far this season.
Muncy mentioned stats displayed on scoreboards and that he would like to see his OPS instead of his batting average. Which, makes complete sense considering that through Sunday, his batting average stands at .140.
That being said, Muncy's OPS (.617) looks ever-so-slightly better more respectable. It's still not good, but not as ghastly to view as a .140 batting average (for some). The Orange County Register's Bill Plunkett was one of the reporters to capture Muncy's scoreboard request.
“I like when the scoreboards do the OPS instead of batting averages. That looks much nicer. It doesn’t hurt as bad because I still get on base. Yeah, when you see the OPS it’s a little bit nicer.”
Muncy's ability to draw walks helps buoy his OPS. In fact, the two-time All Star current leads all Dodgers hitters in walk rate (19.0%). Another statistic that Muncy would probably like to see in big bold font at ballparks is his 104 wRC+ which indicates he's 4% better than the average MLB hitter.
Perhaps Muncy will be seeing more of his OPS, walk rate, and wRC+ on jumbotrons this season.
As Yogi Berra once said, baseball is 90% mental.
