Max Muncy picked up his first homer of the season on April 30 after experiencing the longest regular season home run drought of his career, which began on Sept. 15 of last year.
Muncy wasn’t just not hitting homers; he was barely hitting at all. Going into that April 30 game against the Marlins, he was batting .180 with a .531 OPS and had been benched a few times already.
Muncy and the Dodgers had been working to correct a “misunderstanding” with his swing mechanics, but the most notable difference about the plate appearance that ended in his first home run were the glasses he was wearing.
They initially passed as sunglasses, given the afternoon sun, but he debuted new clear frames at the start of the Dodgers’ series against the Braves.
On Sunday night, he was responsible for two of the three runs LA scored with an RBI double and RBI groundout — only his second multi-RBI game of the season.
So maybe following in Kiké Hernández’s footsteps — Hernández also started wearing glasses in August of last year — will actually make a difference for Muncy, too.
“‘You don’t necessarily need glasses, but you might want to try them,’ and Max thought ‘it can’t hurt’”@Ken_Rosenthal has the story on why Max Muncy is wearing glasses now pic.twitter.com/OfvaA8Zogr
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) May 4, 2025
Dodgers’ Max Muncy could have turnaround fueled by … glasses?
Last year, Hernández batted .167 with a .531 OPS in July, but turned things around when he started wearing glasses to treat an astigmatism.
From August through September, he batted .287 with an .802 OPS and was, as always, a staple of the Dodgers’ lineup throughout the postseason, which almost certainly saved his future with the team.
Muncy was also diagnosed with an astigmatism and figured he had nothing to lose wearing glasses at the plate. He said, “If there’s anything that can help out a little bit, I’ll try it.”
He tried a torpedo bat earlier in April, which didn’t work and was quickly discarded, but maybe he’s onto something with the new frames.
Muncy needs to make more of an impression this season if he’s going to survive on the roster into 2026, when the Dodgers have a $10 million club option to make a decision on.
There’s a lot of time to figure out if he just literally hasn’t been able to see the ball through these first 30-plus games, but a nice night against the Braves should help in the confidence department and give him a little bit of supporting evidence that the fix might be as simple as getting him to the optometrist more often.
