The Los Angeles escaped a series with the San Diego Padres in five innings on Sunday, but it appears more help is coming closer.
Manager Dave Roberts reports that All-Star three-baseman Max Muncie is set to begin rehabilitation assignments this week ahead of the final victory, and the ‘ next road trip in Pittsburgh will allow him to be revitalized.
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As was evident in the first two games against Friars, ‘ attacks seem to be in the habit of becoming flat these days. When Muncy returned to IL, LA averaged 5.79 runs per game with All-Stars in the lineup. Without him, that number would drop to 3.42 runs per game.
Muncie got off to a rough start to the season, hitting just .180 in the first 28 games of the season. On April 30, Muncie began wearing glasses that added astigmatism that the ophthalmologist found in the slugger.
Muncie saw an increase in production, including his first dinger during his first match against the new spec, similar to what happened to Quique Hernandez last season.
Since then, Muncy has hit .295 with a 1.040 OPS. He slugs 17 home runs and 60 RBIs within that 61 game span.
He is definitely an integral part of the lineup, but a knee injury turned him down for about a month in early July.
In eight games where Muncie returned from a knee injury, he picked up where he left off and hit .348/.531/.870 with an absurd 1.401 OPS. The proper oblique injury on the sidelines of the slugger, the same illness that went missing for over three months last season, has once again raised an ugly head.
Luckily, Muncy appears to be coming back sooner than later, but the first step is to conquer his future rehabilitation assignments.
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Photo credit: William Liang-Immagn Image
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