Los Angeles Dodgers: Max Muncy could lose his starting role

The Los Angeles Dodgers boast one of the deepest rosters in baseball. Because of that, a first-half breakout could eventually lose his starting job.

With the additions of Manny Machado and Brian Dozier, the Los Angeles Dodgers have essentially built an American League lineup. The Dodgers have accomplished the rare National League feat of compiling 10-11 guys that all are starting caliber.

This is great for resting and matchup purposes. The Dodgers can send out virtually any lineup possible depending on the matchup and can afford to give each starter at least one game off a week.

As the team makes its push to its sixth straight October, assuming they make it to the postseason, this is going to become extremely important.

However, what this deep roster also comes the decision of who to leave out when it is time to field the best possible starting nine. While that will not be a concrete answer still, the Dodgers will likely begin to run a more consistent lineup as the October looms.

For one cold hitter, this could mean losing the starting jobs.

Max Muncy was on an absolute tear earlier in the season, practically dragging the Los Angeles Dodgers out of a tremendously cold start, back into contention in the National League.

Now, Muncy could be on the path of losing his spot in the starting lineup.

On the surface, it seems asinine to remove someone with a .952 OPS from the starting lineup. However, opposing pitchers are starting to figure out Max Muncy. His patient tendencies are no longer effective.

Muncy has been ice cold since the break. The Home Run Derby participant is hitting .179 just five walks and 26 strikeouts. His base on balls rate has fallen from 18.6 percent of his plate appearances to just 7.7 percent of his plate appearances.

Some would say this is a post-Home Run Derby cool down, however, it seems to be much deeper than that. Pitchers are starting to realize that Muncy is a very patient hitter, so they are attacking the zone early to get him down in the count and uncomfortable. Muncy is hitting .170 this season when the opposing pitcher is ahead in the count.

This is a much larger trend though that should be noted as the Dodgers head towards October. Muncy began the season pretty decent, had a fantastic month and has since fallen off. That stellar month is padding the numbers and is padding many fans’ perception of him.

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From June 3 to July 4, Muncy hit .333 with 13 home runs, 28 walks and 22 strikeouts. Thus, outside of that month, which includes more than this post-Home Run Derby dought, Muncy is hitting .216 with 11 home runs, 29 walks and 66 strikeouts.

Add in the fact that Muncy has no natural spot in this lineup and his downwards trending numbers become uglier. The Dodgers are sort of making the lineup fit around Muncy, moving Cody Bellinger to the outfield and putting Chris Taylor on the bench if no one needs a day off.

However, if Muncy cannot rebound, it makes much more sense for the Dodgers to field a better defensive lineup of Bellinger at first and Taylor, or even the surging Joc Pederson, in center that would also probably be more effective offensively as well.

Matt Kemp is another cold hitter that may enter the bubble as the season prolongs, especially because he is known to fall off late in the season.

However, Kemp produced multiple stellar months of offensive production that make his current slump not as impactful as Muncy’s. There needs to be another two to three weeks of Kemp’s slump to really consider moving him out of the lineup.

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When it comes to Max Muncy, his time may be running out as a breakout star. Hopefully, he can make the adjustments and be a part of the stellar lineup the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to build.

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