The Los Angeles Dodgers and slugger Max Muncy have agreed to a two-year contract extension worth $24 million, the team announced Thursday. The contract includes a $10 million club option for 2026.
Muncy earned $13.5 million this season as part of the one-year extension he signed last August. That contract included a $10 million club option for 2024 and escalators tied to plate appearances pushed it up to $14 million. The new contract overrides the club option and lock Muncy up through 2025, with a club option for 2026.
Now 33, Muncy authored a .212/.333/.475 batting line with 36 home runs this season. It's his fourth 35-homer season since joining the Dodgers full-time in 2018. Muncy's defense at third base is adequate more than stellar, though he can play the position, which is important with Freddie Freeman locked up at first base.
Originally an Oakland Athletics draft pick, Muncy signed with the Dodgers as a minor-league free agent in April 2017. He spent that season in Triple-A, then got called up in April 2018 when injuries depleted the lineup. Muncy slugged 35 home runs in 137 games that season and has been a lineup mainstay since.
Signing Muncy was not a pressing matter -- Los Angeles could have simply picked up the club option -- but it is one less thing they have to worry about. The Dodgers are expected to be major players for Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the top two free agents, and they need additional rotation depth as well.
The Dodgers went 100-62 and won the NL West in 2023, though they were swept in three games by the eventual National League champion Arizona Diamondbacks in the Division Series.
