Rehabbing Dodger Max Muncy, meet A’s prospect Max Muncy
Ben Weinrib
Professional baseball has finally achieved Maximum Muncy.
At long last, the sport’s two infielders named Max Muncy — improbably born exactly 12 years apart and completely unrelated — finally met and played in the same game, an eventual 10-8 victory by rehabbing Muncy’s Triple-A Oklahoma City over prospect Muncy’s Las Vegas on Tuesday at Las Vegas Ballpark.
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The Dodgers’ Max Muncy, 33, has been a big league mainstay for the past seven years, with two All-Star nods and 184 home runs since 2018 — 13th-most in baseball over that stretch. Sidelined since May 15 with a right oblique strain, the third baseman began a rehab assignment with Oklahoma City on Saturday.
The Athletics’ Max Muncy, 21, is on the brink of making his Major League debut after hitting .271/.367/.493 with Las Vegas this season. Oakland’s No. 8 prospect has developed as a well-rounded player with a strong chance to stick at shortstop.
As for Round 1 of this matchup? Las Vegas’ Muncy had the standout performance with four hits, including a pair of doubles, three RBIs and a run scored. Oklahoma City’s Muncy picked up one hit — a first-inning single to right. Even in the loss, the younger Muncy was thrilled to meet his famous doppelganger.
“It was awesome,” the Aviators shortstop said. “Obviously, it’s been a long time coming. I mean, my grandparents have followed him since he was at Baylor, so we’ve known about him for a while. So I think it was just a lot of years of knowing him, and it was kind of cool to meet him. Obviously I’m from L.A., so I hear about him all the time and I get all the questions.”
It’s easy to mix up the infielders. That happens to the Aviators’ Muncy all the time, including when he once bought tickets to the Waste Management Open. Let’s just say the workers at the ticket counter were kind of disappointed when a Major Leaguer didn’t pick up the tickets.
The two infielders share a connection beyond their name and Aug. 25 birthday, of course: Oakland drafted both players. The A’s selected the elder Muncy in the fifth round of the 2012 Draft out of Baylor. Nine years later, they drafted the younger Muncy 25th overall out of Thousand Oaks (Calif.) High School.
Furthermore, the elder Muncy is from Midland, Texas, where the younger Muncy played last season with the Double-A RockHounds. The younger Muncy is from Los Angeles, where the elder Muncy has become a breakout star.
“It’s almost like we swapped spots for a little bit,” the younger Muncy quipped.
It’s nearly an unfathomable coincidence, given that Maxwell — never mind Muncy — isn’t exactly a common name. According to the Social Security Administration, Maxwell ranked 161st among boy names in the 1990s and 134th in the 2000s decade. The good news is that they at least have different middle names (Steven for the Dodgers’ one, Price for the A’s).
“It’s kind of a cool thing,” the Dodgers’ Muncy told Vegas Strong Sports’ Ron Futrell. “It’s not very often you see that happen.”
With their indelible connection, it seemed fated for a Muncy batted ball to find a Muncy glove on Tuesday. Some luck was needed, but there was no avoiding it. In the third inning, the Aviators’ Muncy hit a screamer back up the middle that bounced off starting pitcher Alec Gamboa — and right to the third baseman Muncy.
How could first contact play out any other way for the two Max Muncys?
