Steve Webb
Having dispensed with the pitchers and catchers last week, let’s continue our sojourn through the Dodgers roster with the infield. There will be a few new faces vying for spots in the everyday line-up this year, but sadly Kike Hernandez has taken his tight pants and signed with the Red Sox. He will be missed. Versatile players like that are not easy to come by. But the Dodgers infield is in pretty good shape overall. Today, we start with first base, and the three familiar faces that should get the lion’s share of innings on the right side of the diamond.
Max Muncy (2020: .192 AVG., 12 HR, 27 RBI)
After Cody Bellinger was moved to the outfield, Max Muncy has pretty much become the everyday first baseman of the Dodgers. He can play second and third if necessary, but he’s much more comfortable at first, a position he played in college at Baylor. But nobody hires Max Muncy for his defensive prowess. What we want out of him is hitting. However, and there’s no easy way to put this, Max Muncy in the regular season last year was awful at the plate. He hung in there and got his walks, so his OBP wasn’t quite so bad, and he had a pop in his bat when he did make contact, but there were stretches during the summer that were just hard to watch. Too many swings and misses. Not enough contact. It was rough.
Luckily, the Dodgers’ season didn’t end on October 1st. Muncy somehow flipped a switch in the postseason last year, and he was just spectacular. After an “0fer” against Milwaukee, he just kept getting better the deeper the Dodgers got in the playoffs. His .318/.444/.500 slash line in the World Series was one of the true highlights of the fall, not to mention that mammoth grand slam in the Atlanta series. Perhaps because of his late season heroics, Max was ranked 5th among all MLB first basemen by MLB Network this year. More of this please. So, the question is, which Max are we going to get this year? Regular season Max (boo!) or postseason Max (yay!)? To be honest, if we got something in the middle, that would probably be all right with most Dodgers fans.
Cody Bellinger (2020: .239 AVG, 12 HR, 30 RBI)
There will be much more to say about Cody Bellinger and his sometimes-infuriating 2020 season when we discuss the outfield later this month. For now, suffice it to say that having a glove of his caliber able to come in when Muncy is unavailable at first gives the Dodgers a lot of defensive flexibility. He has seen two full seasons at first base before moving to the outfield, so he definitely can play the position, and play it well.
Matt Beaty (2020: .220 AVG, 2 HR, 5 RBI)
Matt Beaty made a solid impression in his debut with the Dodgers in 2019. We all recall his was the first of those three consecutive totally awesome walk-offs early that summer. Last season was a bit of a step back for the 27-year-old out of Belmont University. He didn’t see a whole lot of playing time in the shortened season, only appearing in 21 games. But all of his offensive numbers diminished considerably from his rookie campaign. Beaty gives Dave Roberts some flexibility around the diamond, as he can play third base and outfield as well if called upon. Hopefully, a full year of AB’s will give him the opportunity to work back into his rhythm.
So, first base has the potential to be a very productive position for the Dodgers in 2021, but every one of its potential occupants is in need of a bounce-back year after underperforming last season. For this reason, our Dodgers Beat rating for first base can’t be any higher.
DODGERS BEAT RATING: B-
