Posted on 06/12/2012 7:30:30 AM PDT by thurmant
Adam Dunn is no stranger to performing well. He was one of the few bright spots for a struggling Cincinnati team early in his career, and a solid foundation for a budding franchise with the Nationals. However, he didn’t do as well in his first year on the White Sox. In fact, he did horribly. One of the worst offensive seasons for an everyday player in quite some time, if not ever. The fact, that he has been able to do as well as he is doing this year is nothing short of remarkable.
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Gotta be enthused when a veteran makes a comeback; but that batting average is pitiful.
Also, as when he was with the D-backs, his outs are either double negatives (DPs), or Ks — very unproductive. So, enjoying his HRs requires the WSox fans to swallow a lot of very bad baseball in the process.
So anyway, I like Dunn and admire his strengths; but as a fan of the D-Backs, I learned you had to take a lot of bad along with the good. That frustration made his departure from the team a welcome development.
“The United States has become a place in which entertainers and professional athletes are mistaken for people of significance.”
Robert A. Heinlein
His on-base + slugging is very high - .925 - so his is a loud, and therefore productive, .226 BA. It’s a huge help he’s taking/getting walks again.
There have been many players who had extreme off-years, although perhaps not .159 BAs, and then rebounded; for example, Mickey Vernon and Roy Campanella. Usually injuries are the reason, so it’s reasonable to wonder whether Adam was hurt last year and just didn’t let on.
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