Dodgers Pregame interview Max Muncy on contract extension 8/22/22

Well, Max, first, congratulations. So what does it mean to you to now be back with this team another year, potentially, too? I mean, it means everything to me. You know, there's no place I'd rather be. And, you know, hopefully next year won't be it. There'll be more after that. But, you know, just the support I've had from the front office and the coaches this year has been – it's really helped me through everything I've gone through. And so, you know, just to be able to come back and know I'm having another chance to win, it kind of means everything to me and my family. And, you know, with where I was before coming to L.A., this place has really turned into – it's really turned into our family. So it's nice to be able to stay here for at least another year, but hopefully more. This year has been a challenging one, coming back from injury, obviously some struggles the first half. To finally kind of be in a spot – I know it's a day-by-day grind for you, but to be in a spot now to kind of get this contract, are you feeling somewhat at peace, I guess, right now, kind of considering how you kind of got over the hump? No. You know, every day I've still got to show up and do my work. I've just got to focus on preparing for the game and doing stuff the right way and going out there and doing whatever I can to help the team win. As long as I can focus on that, you know, at the end of the year I can be happy with wherever I end up at. As long as I'm doing things to help the team and doing things the right way and preparing the right way, then that's the most important thing to me. Because of the way the first – did this weigh on your mind at all? Is it a certainty? It's definitely a relief. But, you know, I don't know if it was weighing on me. I think it was just not being a good baseball player was weighing on me. You know, it was a rough go there. But, you know, just trying to understand where I was at with everyone around me picking me up and reminding me of certain things, things got a little bit easier. And, you know, now it's been a little bit of a relief with some of the results lately. But, yeah, at the end of the day, team winning is the most important thing. And if I can get right for October, that's what I care about. When did this all come together? It's kind of been in the works for a little bit. I'm not exactly sure on the dates of it. But it's something we've been talking about. And, you know, it just feels good. When you talked about, obviously, when you first came here, they helped you a lot with struggling, both with injury and just kind of more inconsistency at the start of this year. Did that give you another perspective on how much this club can help in kind of the way you're mentioning you've worked with guys here on kind of how to get back to where you've been the last month? Absolutely. You know, this is a very close-knit group from up top all the way down to the bottom. You know, the front office, the trainers, the strength staff, the coaches, the players. It's a very close group. And, you know, I don't know if you see that in too many other organizations. You know, you have front office guys coming down and giving tips and giving, you know, encouragement. And then, you know, the training staff and strength staff. It's just, you know, it really is like a family here. And it's been incredible this year just seeing the support from the guys. And, you know, in a way that makes it, you know, that much more. You want to go out there that much more and get right because you feel like you're letting your family down a little bit. And so it's just having the support from them has been everything, though. How much of the last few weeks has helped give you that confidence that maybe a sharp point in the first half wasn't quite there? Yeah, it's been a huge relief the past couple weeks. You know, like I said, just seeing some of the results, it just reaffirms the work that you're doing. And you still can't get complacent. You still got to show up every day and make your adjustments and prepare. And right now that's what I'm focused on. And, you know, hopefully the results keep coming. But, you know, at least with the last couple weeks, I know that I can get back to the player that I am. And just knowing that, I can be happy moving forward as long as I'm doing things the right way. Was there any doubt creeping in at all earlier this year that you weren't going to be able to get back to this point? Maybe a little bit. I mean, I'd be lying if I said there wasn't. You know, you have a huge injury like that. And things just didn't feel – you didn't feel like yourself. So it was a little tough. But, you know, again, maybe that's where the last couple weeks have been huge. Just knowing you can be the player that you've always been. But, you know, at the end of the day, October is what matters. And so if I'm making the right moves now to get me prepared for October and then have a huge run there, that's the important thing. Do you finally feel healthy? I mean, when you consider coming back from the injury for the first time ever, do you feel like you're kind of back to where you were? I feel pretty close. I'm not going to say I'm back to 100%, but I feel pretty close. Everything feels good. It's – the elbow was actually getting a little bit sore when I started making some of the swing changes, but that's because it was being used in a way that it hadn't been used all year. And so that was to be expected. But it was kind of a good soreness because I knew I was using it how I was supposed to use it. So, you know, it feels pretty good right now. Do you know if the last couple weeks had any, like, correlation at all on the contract side of things coming together? You'd have to ask other people. I don't know.