Muncy to start at second against right-handed pitchers

LOS ANGELES —- Max Muncy is making his fifth start at second today but that number will begin to climb on a more regular basis now. Prior to this afternoon’s game against the Rockies, manager Dave Roberts talked about the Dodgers’ second base situation.

Muncy had played 159 major league innings at second base in 2016 with Oakland.

“Muncy is going to play second base against right-handed pitching and then we you are looking at the left-handed pitching,” Roberts said, “Kiké is going to be in the lineup and would expect Logan to be in the lineup.”

“I see Logan at second base against a lefty and Kiké at that point and time will probably be in the outfield.”

“I know [Muncy] has played over a 100 innings in the big leagues at second base,” Roberts said, “he’ll continue to get better once he gets more repetitions so yeah, there’s a couple of plays he hasn’t made, and it hasn’t been as clean but I think the more he plays, the more comfortable he’ll get.”

In the two seasons prior to being traded to the Dodgers, Logan Forsythe played regularly and had a 124 and 113 OPS+ (Baseball-Reference). Last season, Forsythe had an 83 OPS+ in 119 games and this season he has a 53 OPS+ in 49 games.

“Logan is in a tough spot, the last few years he’s been an everyday player at Tampa before he came here,” Roberts said, “the way we do things as far as having more depth and using different players, it’s an adjustment for him and he is handling it very well as far as his psyche.”

“Production wise, he is still kind of working through things mechanically to adjust to a different type of role,” Roberts said, “but we know there is a lot more in there for Logan, he’ll get opportunities but right now for the foreseeable future, it is going to be against left-handed pitching.”

Chase Utley returned from the disabled list during the last road trip and he remains primarily a pinch-hitter and very occasional starting player.

“Chase is going to be against a right-handed pitcher and trying to get him there, it is a once-a-week type thing,” Roberts said, “understanding his value as a pinch-hitter to give us a good at bat off of the bench but you still need to get starts to kind of stay somewhat current but I think that against right-hander we want to make sure Muncy is up.”