Steve Webb
Is it Muncy’s spot by default?
LOS ANGELES — Continuing our trip around the infield, our next stop is second base, and this position is the one that probably has the biggest question mark next to it on my scorecard. Any number of players could ably man the position. Rookie Gavin Lux and Trea Turner got most of the reps at the position last season, but with Corey Seager heading to Texas, Turner will be moving back to his natural position at shortstop. Which is a good thing. Turner did not look great on the right side of the infield, and I think the move back to short will help his sometimes-shaky defense immensely. Until a week ago, it looked like the heir apparent to the position would be Gavin Lux, but with the arrival of superstar Freddie Freeman, all bets are off at second. Let’s try to make some sense of all this, shall we?
Max Muncy (2021: .249 AVG., 36 HR, 94 RBI)
We’ve already discussed Max quite a bit in our first base preview. It’s clear that Freddie Freeman is going to be your day-to-day first baseman for this team. Which leaves Max without a position at the start of the season. I’m sure he’ll be slotted in at DH a good chunk of the time, and he will be spelling Freeman once in a while, but I would look for the Funky Muncy to get most of his starts at second base this year.
After the Freeman signing, Max seemed eager for the challenge of second. “I think it’s awesome,” he said. “Imagine how dangerous we’d be if we get him [Freeman] in that lineup. It makes me really excited. Yeah, maybe it’s not as much first base but that’s ok because I think I’ve said several times I enjoy playing second base more.”
In fact he has proven himself more than adequate at the position. According to a recent post from Sports Illustrated, Muncy ranks a +2 defender in runs saved in his 149 games at second. So with Muncy in the lineup and Freeman and Trea on either side, the Dodgers would actually be a better defensive team than they were at any time last year. Because let’s face it. Sometimes, the infield defense was suspect in 2021. Here’s hoping these new positions fix things.
Gavin Lux (2021: .242 AVG., 7 HR, 46 RBI)
Gavin 2021 was all over the map. He had a horribly slow start, but seemed to put it all together in May. Then, he inexplicably lost it over the summer months, with a few minor injuries thrown in there. It got so bad that he was sent down to OKC for a few weeks to do some fine tuning. But then, after he was called back up in September, he was on fire, hitting a torrid .367 for the month and getting a lot of big hits for the Dodgers down the stretch.
Lux still struggled with left-handed pitching, but he really seemed to be coming into his own as a player. The experience in the outfield during the playoffs was sort of forced on him without any adequate prep or practice, so you can hardly blame him for his miscues in the field in center. But the Freeman signing puts Lux’s playing time in big-time jeopardy. I’m sure he will be working hard in the outfield during Spring Training. Because I think the message has been received. If he wants to be on the field for this stacked Dodger team, he needs to get versatile in a hurry. Still, I have a lot of faith in Lux, and I think he’s going to be on the field more often than not this year. Where exactly might be another question.
Others…
So it’s not like Dave Roberts will have a shortage of options at second base. In addition to Lux and Muncy, Chris Taylor Hanser Alberto, and Zach McKinstry might also man the position from time to time, and we may even see good-looking prospect Michael Busch up on the big club at some point in the season. Finally, former Olympic speed skater (and Miami Marlin) Eddy Alvarez is in camp as a non-roster player, and will be around if the Dodgers are beset by injuries. All in all, the crowd wanting to play infield for this team is a good problem to have.
DODGERSBEAT GRADE: B+
