Dodgers’ Max Muncy Takes Huge Step Toward Return

It appears the Los Angeles Dodgers are getting their third baseman back soon.

Manager Dave Roberts told reporters on Wednesday that Max Muncy will head out on a rehab assignment to Triple-A Oklahoma City this weekend.

Muncy last played on May 15 against the San Francisco Giants because of a right oblique strain but he turned a corner after a chiropractic adjustment at the end of July.

“Max had a real good breakthrough with how he felt,” Roberts revealed to reporters before the Dodgers were swept by the San Diego Padres on July 31. “So I’m really encouraged. I talked to him by text today. So I think that we’ve kind of crossed a hurdle.”

Los Angeles has missed Muncy’s power bat in the lineup. When he went on the injured list he was slashing .223/.323/.475 with a .798 OPS. The left-handed hitting slugger had nine home runs, 28 runs batted in, 31 hits, and 24 runs scored in 40 games.

“There was a chiropractic adjustment that kind of aligned things in there, in the ribs, which is great,” Roberts explained. “So when everything’s telling you that you’re healthy and you’re fine, sometimes it’s kind of a body lineup thing that gets things back in line, right?”

Muncy will also be joined in OKC by Tommy Edman.

The trade deadline acquisition from the St. Louis Cardinals has yet to play this season after undergoing offseason wrist surgery. He also experienced an ankle issue during his rehab assignment on July 9 presented a minor setback.

Edman has been taking live at-bats since joining the Dodgers, and is anxious to take the field with his new team. He already has eight minor league rehab games with the Cardinals’ Double-A affiliate under his belt. He went 6 for 29 with one extra-base hit, a double, plus four walks and nine strikeouts, from July 9-28.

“It’s feeling a lot better, especially this last week, it’s really turned a corner,” Edman told SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson in San Diego. “It was kind of stagnating a little bit for the first like three to four weeks after the injury, and then it really started advancing well over the last week or two.”

Photo Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

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