A video clip involving Max Muncy went viral over the weekend, though we finally know exactly what happened.
Muncy was batting in the bottom of the ninth inning on Friday night with his Los Angeles Dodgers down 9-7 to the Philadelphia Phillies. After starting the at-bat with a ball, Familia threw the second pitch right down the middle. Muncy took a called strike and then protested with the umpire afterwards.
Muncy left many perplexed — and got ridiculed — because he was protesting after an obvious strike.
Max Muncy, batting .147 this season, was unhappy with a strike call that was right down the middle pic.twitter.com/nKrrwSZvz3
— MLB Errors (@mlberrors) May 14, 2022
Even Dodgers announcer Joe Davis was critical of Muncy during his play-by-play commentary at the time.
“That’s concerning to see him argue that,” Davis said of Muncy.
But it turns out that wasn’t the issue.
Davis later clarified on Twitter that Muncy was arguing that Familia failed to come set before delivering the pitch.
Max was arguing pitcher didn't come set, which makes a lot more sense than what we said. https://t.co/dfJT8vZzMK
— Joe Davis (@Joe_Davis) May 14, 2022
That makes a lot of sense. There’s no way Muncy could have argued that the pitch wasn’t a strike — and he wasn’t.
What’s interesting is that the Phillies broadcasting crew flagged the issue even before Muncy complained.
This is so annoying. Even the Phillies broadcast said it’s because familia didn’t come set enough. pic.twitter.com/MGA4TG3w6X
— Jesse Rowe (@kindasortajesse) May 14, 2022
The clip from the Phillies announcers didn’t receive nearly as much attention as the one from the Dodgers’ announcers.
Muncy grounded into a fielder’s choice in the at-bat. He went 1-for-5 with two runs scored. The slugger is struggling at the plate this season, batting .147.
