Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talk.
Speaker 1: Ron Say was the last starting third baseman for the
Speaker 1: National League back in nineteen seventy seven. That distinction now
Speaker 1: goes to Max Muncie, who'll be starting for the National
Speaker 1: League in Philadelphia next week. Max, congratulations on your third
Speaker 1: All Star Game, but especially being named by the fans
Speaker 1: to be the starter.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a special one, you know, just getting the
Speaker 2: recognition from from the fans out there, and you know,
Speaker 2: obviously I can't thank the fans enough. You know, this
Speaker 2: one really does mean the world to me. Just to
Speaker 2: be able to celebrate it with my family and my kids,
Speaker 2: who you know, they weren't there for my previous two,
Speaker 2: and then just to be able to get back to
Speaker 2: the form that you know, I felt like I should
Speaker 2: be playing at all these years.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this one's special.
Speaker 1: It's got to be gratifying with all the work that
Speaker 1: you put in during the offseason that the fans recognize
Speaker 1: the production that it translated into.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And you know it's just you know, you show
Speaker 2: up every single day trying to help the team win.
Speaker 2: You don't really care about yourself, but to get a
Speaker 2: little recognition from the fans for them to say, hey,
Speaker 2: you are playing really well.
Speaker 3: It's just a really cool thing. It's a really cool moment,
Speaker 3: and it definitely means a lot to me.
Speaker 1: I know You've had a lot of pinch me moments
Speaker 1: in your Dodger career, but is this one of them,
Speaker 1: not just being named a starter, but at the position
Speaker 1: that you'll be starting at third base?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I think it definitely is.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't know that I ever truly felt
Speaker 2: that third base would become a spot that I could
Speaker 2: be an All Star at. You know, you look around
Speaker 2: the league and there's just there's a lot of really
Speaker 2: good third basement out there, and you know, it's a
Speaker 2: position that I really didn't know and I didn't know
Speaker 2: how to play. But I showed up every single day,
Speaker 2: try to put in the work, and you know, I
Speaker 2: feel like I'm finally becoming the defensive player that I
Speaker 2: always felt I could be. And it's been it's been
Speaker 2: a lot of fun, and you know, just again to
Speaker 2: get that recognition, it really really does mean a lot.
Speaker 2: I can't put enough and too, you know, I can't
Speaker 2: say enough about how much.
Speaker 3: It means to me.
Speaker 1: Max A lot of times when players invest a lot
Speaker 1: on the defensive side, it takes away from offense. How
Speaker 1: have you been able to balance both to become an
Speaker 1: All Star?
Speaker 2: Well, the biggest thing was learning in my routines, especially
Speaker 2: on defense, just trying to get.
Speaker 3: The knowledge know what I need to do.
Speaker 2: And you know, after years of putting in hours upon
Speaker 2: hours every single day, I finally got to a point
Speaker 2: where I felt like I found the right routine for me.
Speaker 3: And then it's just honing that in on a daily basis.
Speaker 2: And you know, that's that's the routines that you're seeing
Speaker 2: me out here doing every single day along with you know,
Speaker 2: Freddie and Miggie and everyone has their own routine and
Speaker 2: it just takes time to figure out exactly which one's
Speaker 2: working for you.
Speaker 3: And and it just took me years to figure that out.
Speaker 1: A lot of young players they say that to be
Speaker 1: successful in the big leagues, you've got to find a routine.
Speaker 3: At this stage of your career.
Speaker 1: Is it interesting that you still have a routine and
Speaker 1: you still have to maintain and you know, be religious
Speaker 1: to it.
Speaker 2: I don't think you ever lose a routine, doesn't matter
Speaker 2: what part of your career. And for me, it's not
Speaker 2: It's not a shock at all, because, like I said,
Speaker 2: I've just every single year, I feel like I'm continuing
Speaker 2: to learn the position of third base. And you know,
Speaker 2: maybe it'd be different if it was a position that
Speaker 2: I'd played my entire life and I felt like I
Speaker 2: knew it already. But I'm still learning it and even
Speaker 2: now I'm still learning how to play it.
Speaker 3: And uh, there's little.
Speaker 2: Things I pick up on almost every single day about
Speaker 2: how I feel like I can be playing it better
Speaker 2: just from you know, watching my teammates, watching the other team,
Speaker 2: watching games on TV, and you're kind of just studying baseball,
Speaker 2: and you know, for me, I've always tried to study
Speaker 2: what the best third baseman do and try to implement
Speaker 2: implement that into my game and figure out how that
Speaker 2: works for me.
Speaker 1: Is there one guy that you kind of looked at,
Speaker 1: maybe on video during the off season, where maybe you
Speaker 1: took something from them.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's everybody. It's not just one guy, because
Speaker 2: everyone has their own unique style. You know. You look
Speaker 2: at you know, in Aeronauto where he's always fielding things
Speaker 2: on the run and throwing on the run, versus a
Speaker 2: Chapman always fielding things deep, and you know, everyone has
Speaker 2: their own unique style and you have to figure out
Speaker 2: which one's yours, and so for me, it was just
Speaker 2: trying to take little elements from all of those guys
Speaker 2: and figure out how it best works for me and
Speaker 2: then find my own style with it.
Speaker 1: Max Munsey is our guest. He's headed to his third
Speaker 1: All Star Game, first time starting at their Bays, first
Speaker 1: time starter for the Dodgers at the hot corner since
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven, You've had experiences at the All Star Game.
Speaker 1: What have been your past experiences and how much are
Speaker 1: you looking forward to being in that clubhouse with those
Speaker 1: guys again.
Speaker 2: It's always it's always just an insane moment because you're
Speaker 2: you're there with you know, the absolute best in the game,
Speaker 2: and you know you're shown up into the clubhouse and
Speaker 2: it's it is it's the All Star team. You know,
Speaker 2: you're looking at just players from from every team across
Speaker 2: the league, the best players, and it's it's kind of
Speaker 2: a surreal moment to know that you're just you're there
Speaker 2: with everyone else, and you know that's where the recognition
Speaker 2: part comes in, and it's just really cool to have that.
Speaker 1: Any temptation to enter the home run derby.
Speaker 3: No, no, not for me. I haven't been asked.
Speaker 2: But you know, for me, being healthy is the more
Speaker 2: important part. And but you know that's been the biggest
Speaker 2: key to my success this year, is just staying healthy
Speaker 2: and I want to keep it that way. And part
Speaker 2: of that is not doing anything stupid to risk that.
Speaker 1: Speaking of home runs, when you first came to the Dodgers,
Speaker 1: people try to put you in that bucket where you
Speaker 1: were a three true outcome player. And now it seems
Speaker 1: like everybody's starting to recognize how much work you've put
Speaker 1: in to not just be a three true outcome player.
Speaker 1: How proud are you that your game has evolved into
Speaker 1: being the well rounded hitter that you've become.
Speaker 3: I mean a lot.
Speaker 2: I feel like anytime you're a guy that walks a lot,
Speaker 2: you kind of get put into that category. And you know,
Speaker 2: part of that is just a result of if you're
Speaker 2: losing at bats because you're you're walking, but you're you're
Speaker 2: getting on base, and that's the goal is to get
Speaker 2: on base.
Speaker 3: So for me, it's never something that bothered me.
Speaker 2: But you know, you when you look at some guys,
Speaker 2: they're getting five at bats a game, if your guy
Speaker 2: that walks a bunch, you're only getting three bats or
Speaker 2: maybe even two of bats, depending And so sometimes the
Speaker 2: hits just don't come as much when you're when you're
Speaker 2: constantly getting locks. But that's always something that I've been
Speaker 2: proud of, is I'm on base for the guys behind
Speaker 2: me to drive me in and ultimately that helps us
Speaker 2: win the game. And that's the whole point of playing
Speaker 2: as you're trying to win the game.
Speaker 1: You told me a few years ago, you know, when
Speaker 1: maxim and see is going well, when I'm taking my walks,
Speaker 1: not necessarily the hits of the home runs. Is that
Speaker 1: still true?
Speaker 3: This year might be a little bit different.
Speaker 2: I haven't been getting as many walks this year, but
Speaker 2: you know, my my bath to ball success rate it's
Speaker 2: been a little bit better. And you know, I've just
Speaker 2: been you know, and I don't know if that has
Speaker 2: something to do with the abs zone or not. It
Speaker 2: seems like seems like teams have been attacking me a
Speaker 2: lot more in zone this year compared to years past.
Speaker 3: And you know, that could play in Twitter.
Speaker 2: It could just be that's just how this year's gone,
Speaker 2: you know, it is it is baseball there's no way
Speaker 2: to predict what's gonna happen, and you know, but for me,
Speaker 2: it's been giving me more opportunities to get hits and
Speaker 2: that's what I've been trying to take advantage of.
Speaker 1: Every year is unique. We all understand that you guys
Speaker 1: have a large lead in the NL West as we
Speaker 1: get closer to the All Star break. You've been part
Speaker 1: of Dodger teams where you had big leads in the
Speaker 1: second half of the season. What have you learned from
Speaker 1: that and the experience of winning back to back championships
Speaker 1: with this big of a lead, what do you guys
Speaker 1: have to continue to do to not let down?
Speaker 2: You know, I think this group is a little bit
Speaker 2: different just the amount of experience we have, you know,
Speaker 2: on the team, and in the past, we hadn't been
Speaker 2: as bought into just taking it day by day as
Speaker 2: we are now. And part of that is just understanding
Speaker 2: what the end goal is for us. And the only
Speaker 2: way you get there is you. You you show up
Speaker 2: every day and you you do what you have to
Speaker 2: do for that day. You can't worry about anything else
Speaker 2: that's going on. You can't worry about tomorrow or next
Speaker 2: week or the week after that you have you know,
Speaker 2: tonight we have Kyle Freeland the Rockies. How are we
Speaker 2: gonna win this game? And then when we show up tomorrow,
Speaker 2: we'll worry about tomorrow's pitcher. And that's that's just how
Speaker 2: we've been taking it every single day. And that's that's
Speaker 2: really what's helped us win two.
Speaker 3: World Series back to back.
Speaker 2: Is you know, even in the postseason, it doesn't matter
Speaker 2: if you won the night before, you got to show
Speaker 2: up the next day and you play that game.
Speaker 1: Will that be the challenge in the second half for
Speaker 1: you guys to stay in the moment.
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean obviously that's that's kind of always the challenge.
Speaker 2: But you know, I think for us, like I said,
Speaker 2: having the experience that's been that's been helping us a bunch.
Speaker 1: You don't have to worry about me, Muncie. I won't
Speaker 1: let down in the second half either.
Speaker 3: I don't think I was ever worried about you.
Speaker 1: I know, thank you, thanks a lot for the time.
Speaker 1: Great to see you be recognized for all the hard
Speaker 1: work you've put in. You are one of the best
Speaker 1: players in Major League Baseball and you're a three time
Speaker 1: World Series champion, one of the most clutch hitters in
Speaker 1: modern Dodger history. So congratulations, enjoy Philadelphia, and we'll see
Speaker 1: you in the second half of the season.
Speaker 3: Appreciate David. I'm definitely gonna enjoy it. I know my
Speaker 3: kids are too,