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Snakebitten: Having or experiencing failure or bad luck; hapless, hard-luck, ill-fated, jinxed, unlucky.

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Which 2020 Dodgers player comes to mind when you read that definition, and synonyms from the Merriam Webster Dictionary? Did you say Max Muncy? Good choice.

After being one of the very best run producers (Fangraphs wRC+) in MLB for the 2018 and 2019 seasons (8th overall with 146), Muncy has struggled mightily in 2020, barely reaching “average” status (100). But he wasn’t alone as several notable Major League players scuffled offensively through the MLB cardboard season: Cubs Javier Baez – 57; Nationals Victor Robles – 65; Rockies Nolan Arenado – 76; Astros Jose Altuve, Red Sox J.D. Martinez, and Rangers Joey Gallo – 77. There are more, but you get the picture.

When good offensive players encounter long periods of poor run production their defense often suffers as well. That pattern certainly applies to Muncy this season. Muncy is never going to be in consideration for a Rawlings Gold Glove award, but during 2018 and 2019 he was an above average defensive first baseman. 2020? There is no way to sugar coat the stats; Max has been statistically awful at the position.

How does a player of Muncy’s abilities have such a horrid season? Snakebitten?

The Hall of Fame executive Branch Rickey said that “Luck is the residue of hard work and design.” There is not a harder worker in baseball than the 30-year old Muncy. If anything, he is trying too hard when hitting, and perhaps subconsciously allowing those troubles to carry over into his defense.

Perhaps Muncy needs to turn to the philosophies of Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra for assistance:

• “I can’t think and hit at the same time.”
• “Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.”

We chuckle at Yogi-isms, but there is a lot of sage wisdom for Muncy in those quotes.

And in the words of Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella:

“You gotta be a man to play baseball for a living, but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you, too. When you see Willie Mays and Ted Williams jumping and hopping around the bases after hitting a home run, and the kissing and hugging that goes on at home plate, you realize they have to be little boys.”

You aren’t snakebitten, Max. Go out and play the game the way Yogi and Roy would tell you to play – Dodgers fans are rooting for you!

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