Opinion: The Athletics’s Max Muncy is better than the Dodgers’s Max Muncy

Max Muncy (YouTube)

One of the craziest storylines in Major League Baseball is the fact that there are two players in the game with the exact same name. They also play in the same state and they are both third basemen. However, 23-year-old Max Muncy of Camarillo, California, who plays on the hot corner for the Athletics is not related to 35-year-old Max Muncy of Midland, Texas, who plays on the hot corner for the Dodgers.

The Max Muncy of the Dodgers is the more high profile veteran. He is a two-time National League All-Star, three-time World Series champion, and is the only player this season to have three home runs in a game. He accomplished the feat on Thursday in an 8-7 Dodgers win over the Texas Rangers. Muncy’s home runs went 399 feet, 396 feet and 401 feet. Interestingly, it was the second time in Muncy’s career that he hit three home runs in a game. He also accomplished the feat in an 11-2 Dodgers win over the Atlanta Braves on May 4, 2024.

However, if you compare the Max Muncy of the Athletics to the Max Muncy of the Dodgers, you could make the argument that the Athletics’s Max Muncy is developing into the better  contact hitter, and thus the more valuable hitter to his team.

Where the Athletics’s Max Muncy has the advantage this season is batting average. The Athletics’s Max Muncy is batting .317 with 19 hits in 60 at bats. The Dodgers’s Max Muncy is batting only .226 with 12 hits in 53 at bats. Remember, the Dodgers’s Max Muncy has hit below the Mendoza Line three times in his career. Even though the Athletics’s Max Muncy lacks experience, he has also the statistical advantage this season in runs scored, doubles, triples, runs batted in, stolen bases, total bases, on base percentage and slugging percentage compared to his Dodgers namesake.