BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The seventh annual Cal State Bakersfield Hot Stove Dinner took place over at the Kern County Fairgrounds on Friday night.
An event that benefits the baseball program and one that brings in big name major leaguers into town.
This year's guest was Dodger All-Star infielder Max Muncy.
Muncy, who was out of baseball in 2017 before joining the Los Angeles Dodgers and then becoming one of the league's top hitters, spoke to the CSUB baseball team prior to addressing the event attendees as he shared his story of adversity in baseball and how he turned around from a low to a high.
A story that resonates with the young players, like BCHS grad and current CSUB pitcher Roman Angelo.
"A guy who is currently in the major leagues, you know, come out and talk about what he's gone through, he's gone up and down a lot so keeping a strong mentality talking about that a lot and it was great having a guy like that coming and talking to us," the sophomore pitcher said.
"I was in college in, too, and we used to have these dinners all the time and there were always guys that came in and talk to, and you want to hear what they have to say, you want to hear their story, you want to hear what they did when they were in college. Any number of things," Muncy said. "
And, to be able to be that guy now that's coming into these programs, it's really cool for me."
While it was all positive night for baseball in Bakersfield, it's hard to ignore the recent negativity surrounding Major League Baseball with the current sign-stealing scandal.
Muncy did speak on the issues by saying that he will be waiting to make his own opinion once all the findings and facts have been released.
"Until they've done that i can't really make a comment. The only thing I can say is if what they did is, if it's true and they were using devices and all this other stuff then, yeah, there needs to be punishment and if it didn't come out the no, they were doing what everyone else was doing so until we find out exactly what happened and all the information, for me, it's hard to make a comment on it because you just don't know," Muncy said.
The recent all-star has been with the Dodgers for the past two seasons, but Muncy was not on the squad when the Astros beat Los Angeles in the 2017 World Series where many of these allegations began.
