Dodgers: Roberts Believes Muncy's Energy Is A Catalyst For Team's Success

Two things are for certain: the Dodgers are winning (a lot) and they're having a whole lot of fun while doing that and Roberts believes it starts with Muncy.

With how the season started out for Max Muncy, things did not look great for the Dodgers infielder.

Muncy currently has a .197 batting average with a career-high 122 strikeouts this season. Despite his struggles at the plate, Dave Roberts continued to start him in 113 of the team's 138 games so far. 

However, even with the tough luck at the plate, the fifth-year Dodger decided to change his swing at just the right time, seek some counsel from his teammates, and has seen much improvement since then.

Things started to shift in August as he hit .261 with 7 home runs and 19 RBI’s. Then come September, the guy is a whole new ball player. This month, Muncy is batting a .360 and already has 3 home runs with 6 RBI’s. Two of those home runs came in his first multi-home run game of the season in Wednesday's win against the Giants.  

Max Muncy has done it all today!! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/HC0ywlV1Jo

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) September 7, 2022

In the past 7 games, Muncy has gone 8-for-18, with a .444 AVG and 1.444 OPS. Following the multi-homer game, Roberts had this to say about Muncy (quotes via Bill Plunkett of the OC Register): 

"He’s been grinding all year to get to this position. He’s a big part of what we’re doing as an offense. When he’s going well it seems like guys feed off that because he’s always in the middle of things.”

Despite dealing with a minor flare-up with his knee leaving him out of the lineup for Friday and Saturday's games, he came back as DH for the series finale and collected one run off one hit and 3 RBI to help the team to an 11-2 win.