Max Muncy's latest quote about defensive struggles is depressing

Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Max Muncy has never been known for his defensive prowess, but his struggles in the field in 2025 have hurt both the team and his confidence.

Muncy has eight (8) errors this season while playing third base. That's tied for the second most in the major leagues. His .925 fielding percentage is the worst in all of baseball.

Seven of Muncy's eight errors this season are throwing errors. But his one fielding error, which came on Sunday, may have been the most costly one yet.

Muncy botched a two-out ground ball from Juan Soto in the bottom of the first, which extended the inning and brought Mets first baseman Pete Alonso to the plate. Alonso crushed a go-ahead two-run home run and the Dodgers never took the lead back in the series rubber match.

Dodgers infielder Max Muncy's latest depressing comments echo LA's concerns

It's just one series and the Dodgers are still in first place. They are one of the best teams in baseball and one loss to the Mets in May is not going to keep them out of the postseason. But the postgame comments from Muncy are just depressing. He is putting way too much blame on himself.

“It makes you feel like the game is on your shoulders. That’s how I feel, at least,” Muncy said after Sunday's loss. “It’s a play that needs to be made, and I should have made it. It’s just a frustrating one.”

Baseball is such a mentally challenging game. It will humble you constantly and the weight of every moment can be suffocating. It's understandable why Muncy feels how he feels - it's never fun to let the team down. But if we're being honest, Los Angeles lost the series agains the Mets for a few much bigger reasons.

Muncy's error and Alonso's home run only made it a 2-1 game. It was still the first inning with a ton of baseball to play, but the Dodgers mustered just four hits the rest of the way. Muncy had one of those hits.

The Dodgers were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position in the game and left seven runners on base. Mookie Betts was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a sacrifice fly. It was a bad game all around.

Fortunately, it doesn't sound like Muncy is going to be down on himself for very long. Even with the bad defensive season he is having, he has not stopped believing in himself.

“It’s tough,” Muncy said regarding his general defensive struggles. “It’s one of those things where l’m just really not good defensively right now. Not going to shy away from it, but all I can do is keep showing up every day, working on it, trying to figure things out, trying to get better. That’s what l’ve been doing. That’s what I’m gonna keep doing. If you let it get you down, it’s gonna keep getting worse. For me, I just gotta keep showing up every single day, and keep working as hard as I can to figure it out. Keep believing in myself, that I know I can be a good defender. I know I haven’t shown it. But I know I can be a good defender. And so I got to keep believing in myself and just keep showing up and putting in the work.”

If Muncy doesn't figure it out soon, Enrique Hernández is an option to be the everyday third baseman. He only has one error at third this season and has seven (7) home runs on the year with an OPS of .814 in the month of May.