Max Muncy talks Recovery, Freddie Freeman, Lockout, & Albert Pujols

But it's always great to talk baseball with a current Dodger player. And he's one of the fan favorites. And we all can't wait to see him back at Dodger Stadium sooner rather than later. And that is the one and only Max Muncy. Max, Happy New Year. Or is it too late to say that? I think it's a little past that, man. But you got to get to hear a voice. You know, if I'm hearing your voice, so that usually means baseball is around the corner. Hopefully that's true. And hopefully we'll get to see each other soon. Yay. I like that. You must be having a lot of withdrawals if you're saying and expressing how much you miss me, Muncy. I did not expect that. I don't know if it's missing you. I think it's more just missing the idea of you. Because like I said, that means baseball's there. So we'll go with that. How have you been treating all this this off season? It feels like every player is in some sort of limbo until there's an agreement. Yeah. You know, it's just, you know, trying to prepare, trying to get healthy, trying to make sure my arm is good to go. And, you know, whenever whenever we do get the call and she'll be ready to go, hopefully not miss too much time. It's funny you brought up your arm, Max Muncy. Your left elbow took you out of the final day of the regular season and the postseason. I think a lot of people were shocked to hear the extent of the injury. So how is it coming? And does this lock out in some ways buy you more time to be ready? It's you know, it's it's coming along. It's you know, it's it feels pretty good now. It's feeling strong. You know, we've been swinging a bat lately. It's it's progressing well. You know, the lockout does help, but at the same time, it's a little tricky because, you know, I'm getting more time to get healthy, but I'm not being able to work with, you know, you know, my guys on the staff. And, you know, I can't even talk to them, really. So, you know, I'd be getting better, you know, probably better treatment if I was getting worked on by them. But that's just the unfortunate circumstances. So, you know, it does give me a chance to get healthy, but I'm not getting the full extent of what I could be getting. And, you know, I think even before the lockout, it was looking like I was going to possibly be ready for opening day. I still think we're we're on that track right now. And, you know, like I said, it's feeling strong. It's it's feeling healthy where we've been swinging a bat. It's you know, it's a little stiff, but that's to be expected. So we're working through it. And, you know, it should be good to go. Are you happy with the decision not to have Tommy John surgery on it? And do you feel like this was the right course of action? Well, that was never really on the table for me. You know, all the doctors said it didn't need to happen. You know, a lot of medical talk, but something to do with being my left arm and being how the ligaments were laying after being torn and everything like that. It, you know, it it it was really bad news, but it was like the best of the bad news you could get. And so when I learned that, it was kind of nice to know that I wasn't going to have to have surgery and all that stuff. And, you know, we'll we'll see how it feels once we start getting, you know, swings off of pitchers and that kind of stuff. But, you know, I'm pretty happy with where it's at right now. Max, players have told me in the past, the way I understand it, your bottom hand is where the power comes. Is it a little better that it's your left elbow, your left arm, and that's your top hand? How does that all work with hitting? Well, we'll find out. You know, your bottom hand is definitely a lot more important. But, you know, the top hand can't be ignored, especially in my swing. I like to use my top hand a lot. And, you know, like I said, we'll see once we get things ramping up pretty good, how it feels. But, you know, being the left arm, it's it's it's fortunate. And, you know, it's it's minimizing the amount of time that I'm going to have to miss. You know, hopefully it's ready for opening day. I think that was the plan. And we were on track for that. And, you know, hopefully it's not going to affect me too much. But, you know, I can't answer that until we actually get out there. Man, that is good to hear. I wasn't sure whether or not you would be ready for opening day. We hadn't heard from you since December. And that's a great reason to have you on. And I'm sure a big sigh of relief for Dodger fans that you believe that when opening day does happen, you'll be ready. Well, that's the plan. You know, I want to be ready for it, and I think I will be. And, you know, I want to be out there with the guys and helping the team win. Something I couldn't do during the postseason. What have you thought about the rumors about Freddie Freeman leaving Atlanta and possibly coming to the Dodgers, which would mean maybe less first base for you, some DH, some second base? I know you're willing to do anything for the team. How have you reacted to those rumors? I think it's awesome. Imagine how dangerous it would be if we get him in that lineup. Yeah. You know, it makes me really excited. Yeah, maybe it's not as much first base, but that's OK. Because, you know, I think I've told you several times, I enjoy playing second base more. And, you know, if we get the DH, obviously that's going to be a rotating position. We're not going to have one set DH because we you know, that's a way we can utilize it to get people off their feet and get them rest days without getting them out of the lineup. So, you know, I don't think we have a set DH. That just means we'll be rotating all around the field. And that's that to me is when it's really fun. So, you know, I'm excited about it. Max, people always are taken aback when I tell them that Chris Woodward told me your best position is second base. How do you how do you figure that out? Where second base is your strongest position. A lot of people would assume that it's one of the corner positions. Yeah, I've always loved second base. You know, growing up, I played a lot of second. And, you know, I just like my actions are the best at second. I read balls best at second. I make best plays at second. And, you know, obviously I may not be your prototypical second baseman. But I think I would surprise you if you were to look at, you know, some of the things that go into it. You know, maybe I don't look like I'm getting to a lot of balls, but I'm actually getting to more than you would think. So, yeah, yeah, it's just one of those things where I've always enjoyed second. And, you know, maybe that has something to do with it, that it's my favorite position to play. So, you know, when you're playing your favorite position, maybe you are more incentivized to make more plays. I don't know. But it just it's always worked out that way. How hard do you work at it? How hard have you had to work at it to improve knowing the Dodgers were going to play you there a lot? You know, I've had to work at, you know, everything on defense and every year I feel like I get a lot better at defense. And that's, you know, I've had a lot of great coaches over the years that have taught me a lot of great things. And I try to take that into, you know, my work every single day. And, you know, I still have a lot to learn to get a lot better. And, you know, I plan on doing that. Max, you always hear about players talking about the first step, no matter what position it is, maybe some more than others. Is that what allows you to be as good as you are at second base? I don't know. You know, if you want to say that, go ahead. But I don't, I don't, you know, I don't know. I just it's one of those things where I just feel like I have the best instincts over there. Max Muncy is our guest. You can still keep track of him on his social media during this lockout. And man, I saw your brand new truck from Premier Chrysler, Dodge and Buena Park, Max. Every time I'm on the five freeway in Buena Park, I think about that beautiful truck that you posted. Do I get a ride or are you going to put me in the back? I mean, how are we going to do this? Yeah, you can get in the very back. That's what I thought. I'll give you a ride. You better hang on for your life, you know? Me and the dog, right? Maybe we yeah, maybe we maybe we can work something out. Maybe we can give you a ride somewhere. But yeah, you know, those those guys are great. We say it every single time. You know, they they're unbelievable to work with. And you know that the dealership is great. The people are great. And that's kind of the biggest thing to me is, you know, when you're working with good people, you're always going to find a way to get something done. So if you're looking for a vehicle, definitely go check those guys out because, you know, they'll work with you on anything. Is it creepy when I drive by that dealership in Buena Park, Premier Jeep and Chrysler that I think of Max Muncy? Or is that a compliment? I think any time you think of me, it's a little creepy that way. Come on, you you know that it's always the first day of spring training. When I when I gently walk towards your locker, I feel like I give you a couple of days before I dive in with all of me harassing you. I don't know if you give me enough days. Max Muncy is our guest. All right. Before I let you go, Max, do you have full trust in your union leadership to navigate this? And is there a deal to be made? Because at this point, that's all we care about. Do you believe there's a deal to be made from what you understand? Absolutely. And, you know, 100 percent trust our guys. And, you know, for the people listening, you got to you got to understand that the full story is not ever getting said. You know, especially when it comes to MLB. It's just, you know, not all the details are out there. And, you know, it's unfortunate. That's how it how it is. But there there's a deal that's to be made hopefully soon. You know, I don't know all the details because I'm not the I'm not the rep involved with all that. But, you know, I have to believe it because I want I want to play baseball. But at the same time, we have to get this right for the future generations, for the guys come after that. We have to get this one right. We can't we can't just, you know, we can't just fall under the pressure and give in and then the guys in the future are hurting worse than we are. You know, we got to we we got to get it right. The one thing I'm always concerned about in these type of labor negotiations are not so much for the top five percent of players and honestly, not even the bottom two year players. I know there's a lot of those guys, but what about the middle class guys that actually help a team win a championship? The veterans that really take you to another level? Are they going to get lost in all this, Max? Well, there's a there's a lot that goes into those, you know, that you call them the middle guys. You know, there's there's a lot that goes into it. I'm not going to jump too much into it because it's not not really my place to be to be saying things. Gotcha. But, you know, we're trying to help out everybody. And, you know, like you said, those top guys are always going to make their money. There's no there's no situation in what and where that's going to change. And if people look at it, then that's just, you know, that's that's all they see. And I don't think anything will change their mind. But this is about more than just those top guys. This is about everybody and making sure everyone everyone has a fair chance to just play. You know, obviously we all want to make money, but we're trying to help out guys play. And when guys are getting pushed out of the game, that still have a lot to give the team, you know, it's kind of it's kind of frustrating. So we got to make sure we take care of everybody. Hey, and the Dodgers have been great about that, Max, because I'm not sure you guys have the success that you've had without players like Chase Utley, Andre Ethier, David Freese, and even Albert Pujols this past season. Well, you know, when you're a team that wants to win, you're going to do what it takes to win. It doesn't matter, you know, what, you know, it doesn't matter what that takes. So it's that's something I've always loved about being on the Dodgers is winning at the priority and hopefully winning will always be priority. All right. Before I let you go, seriously, last one. I brought up Albert Pujols. You guys had such a great relationship and I feel like if memory serves me right, the hug, the Albert Teal hug started with you. So can you just reflect on that season with Albert? And I'm sure when you look back at it 10 years from now, it might be one of your favorite baseball memories. Yeah, you know, when the whole Albert thing, when when he got released from the Angels, I remember I went straight to straight to Doc, straight to Andrew and said, hey, we need to bring this guy in. We need to bring him in. And, you know, he ended up showing up and it was great. And, you know, me and him had a great relationship right from day one. And, you know, I'm always gonna be thankful for that. And how the hug started, I have no idea. Just, you know, me and him always joked around and he'd get mad when he hit when he hit balls on the ground. And I said, well, why, you know, don't do that. You don't have a chance on the ground. You put it in the air, you know, you got a chance. And so it just kind of, you know, just kind of developed from there. And next thing you know, we were giving each other hugs and then he'd given everybody hugs. So I just kind of, you know, that's just how it started. That's how it was so great. It was so organic and yeah. Good advice, Muncie, man, you're giving a future hall of famer some good advice right there. I wasn't telling him anything he didn't already know, but when you when you say it in a joking way and you bring out a smile on someone, then, you know, sometimes that's all they need is just to relax and get pressure off them and have fun. Honestly, I never saw him smile that much in the last 10 years. And to see him smile as much with you guys, it was really cool to see. You know, he was he was awesome. He was he was a lot of fun. He taught everybody a lot of stuff. And he brought a lot to the ballclub and he helped us win a lot of games. And, you know, I'm very thankful for every second that we had with him. And, you know, I definitely would not be opposed to having have another season with him. You know, he can still hit left. He's really good. And he still brings a lot to the clubhouse. And, you know, he's he's awesome to have around. So I definitely would not be opposed to that. Love it. Max, the Dodgers are lucky to have you, too. I'm glad the left elbow is healing and can't wait to see you at Camelback Ranch. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Thanks a lot for coming on. I know the fans miss you, so appreciate you doing this. You got it, man.