Adam Dunn

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knightedsoldier5000

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He's really turned it around this year so far. He's up to 9 dingers already after hitting only 11 last year.

Before last year, he was on pace to hit 700 or so by age 40, and just like most white sluggers, he did it with little fanfare or glorification by the talking heads in the media and espn. Let's hope he has a huge year, and that his early success continues.
 
Don Wassall

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Dunn was the most consistent power hitter in baseball history before having a disastrous 2011. From 2004 through 2010 his home run totals were 46, 40, 40, 40, 40, 38 and 38. Amazing! He strikes out too much and doesn't hit for average, but at 6' 6" and 285 pounds he's a freak of nature, the power hitting equivalent to Big Unit Randy Johnson.

If Dunn's righted the ship, and it appears he has, he should go over 400 career homers this season at the age of 32. He has a pretty good shot at matching Jim Thome with 600+ HRs. Even 500 would be nice, as that milestone has been dominated by non-Whites since the 1970s.
 
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Don Wassall said:
Dunn was the most consistent power hitter in baseball history before having a disastrous 2011. From 2004 through 2010 his home run totals were 46, 40, 40, 40, 40, 38 and 38. Amazing! He strikes out too much and doesn't hit for average, but at 6' 6" and 285 pounds he's a freak of nature, the power hitting equivalent to Big Unit Randy Johnson.

If Dunn's righted the ship, and it appears he has, he should go over 400 career homers this season at the age of 32. He has a pretty good shot at matching Jim Thome with 600+ HRs. Even 500 would be nice, as that milestone has been dominated by non-Whites since the 1970s.
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He does strike out too much, but his career OBP is very, very good. He walks a ton. Getting on base and driving people in is what this game is all about. He's one of the most underrated players of his time.
 
jaxvid

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Dunn's poor 2011 was one of the most disappointing stories of the year in baseball which otherwise was pretty good from a caste perspective. It should be noted that it's not unusual for even very good players, Hall of famers, to have the occassional bad year. Glad it looks like he's put it behind him.
 
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Deacon said:
Yep, saw the highlight on mlb.com.

But the White Sox play-by-play guy is atrocious!

When a guy hits a home run he always yells...."You can put it on the booooooaaaaaarrrrrrrdddddd! Yes!"

Damn, just shut up.

http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=276055#gameType='R'
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The White Sox announcing crew is something else. That guy has to be the worst announcer in all of baseball - hes impossible to listen to. When there's a popup to the OF he always calls it a "can of corn" WTH??? a can of corn.... o...k...

But they also have steve stone who is one of, if not THE, best announcer in MLB.
 
JReb1

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Dunn hit HR #20 today! He might hit 50 HR's this year for the 1st time, he's on pace.
 
white lightning

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This guy is like a modern day Jim Thome. He is just a big strong athletic guy who just kills the ball. I love watching him play. Here is to him hitting 50+ homers to help make up for last season. It almost always seems that most of the white sluggers have a few years of mediocre stats and that always seems to haunt them in the chase for 500. A good example would be Chipper Jones although he is still a sure hall of famer.
 
jaxvid

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I like Adam Dunn but geez has he become an even more one-dimensional player then before? .203 average and 167 strikeout's already. That's ridiculous. Anything's better then last year but the numbers besides HR's are pretty bad.
 
Don Wassall

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Yeh, Dunn is a lot like Dave Kingman, a one-trick pony. A .200 average and probably 200 strikeouts by season's end is pretty dismal. There's a lot of four and five tool White players in the bigs these days that I root for more than Dunn.
 
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Don Wassall said:
Yeh, Dunn is a lot like Dave Kingman, a one-trick pony. A .200 average and probably 200 strikeouts by season's end is pretty dismal. There's a lot of four and five tool White players in the bigs these days that I root for more than Dunn.
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Don, I'm afraid you yourself have fallen victim to the caste mentality. Dunn's amazing accomplishments are so often belitted by comparing him to kingman and saying he can't do anything else. It's the excuse that has been used over the years to deny him all-star consideration and HR derby consideration.

But in fact that simply isn't true. Dunn is leading the league in walks as we speak and has a very good .371 lifetime OBP. Kingman on the other hand had a .302 lifetime OBP. Dunn not only drives in runs, but he gets on base and scores runs. It is true he is having an abysmal year as far as BA and Ks goes, but he's still producing runs and is at or near the top of the league in most major categories - Runs, HRs, RBIs, BBs.
 
Don Wassall

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knightedsoldier5000 said:
Don, I'm afraid you yourself have fallen victim to the caste mentality. Dunn's amazing accomplishments are so often belitted by comparing him to kingman and saying he can't do anything else. It's the excuse that has been used over the years to deny him all-star consideration and HR derby consideration.

But in fact that simply isn't true. Dunn is leading the league in walks as we speak and has a very good .371 lifetime OBP. Kingman on the other hand had a .302 lifetime OBP. Dunn not only drives in runs, but he gets on base and scores runs. It is true he is having an abysmal year as far as BA and Ks goes, but he's still producing runs and is at or near the top of the league in most major categories - Runs, HRs, RBIs, BBs.
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Well, I praised him earlier in the thread for his consistent power hitting and I'd like to see Dunn get to 500 homeruns, but he does remind me of Kingman.

Kingman - .236 career batting average
Dunn - .241 career batting average

Kingman played in 261 more games than Dunn has so far. He had 1,210 RBIs, Dunn at 998 is a little below Kingman's pace.

Kingman had 442 homers, Dunn will be right around there when he's played as many games as Kingman.

As far as runs and RBIs, Dunn is among the leaders, but it's hard not to be when you're on pace to hit 40+ homeruns. That said, he's not a great RBI guy, his career high in a season is 106. Considering all the 40 HR years he's had, that's not overly impressive.

You're right that Dunn is much better at drawing walks than Kingman was, but I still categorize him as too one-dimensional. (And Dunn strikes out more often than Kingman did -- Kingman struck out a little less than once every four at bats; Dunn does slightly over one-third of the time.) A .241 batting average is very weak. Even Greg Luzinski had a career mark of .276 and Ralph Kiner's was .279, and they were viewed as one dimensional.

I admire Dunn's power and consistency but I can't call a player great that hits .241 and strikes out all the time. I root for him but he's not one of my favorite baseball players.
 
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Don Wassall said:
Well, I praised him earlier in the thread for his consistent power hitting and I'd like to see Dunn get to 500 homeruns, but he does remind me of Kingman.

Kingman - .236 career batting average
Dunn - .241 career batting average

Kingman played in 261 more games than Dunn has so far. He had 1,210 RBIs, Dunn at 998 is a little below Kingman's pace.

Kingman had 442 homers, Dunn will be right around there when he's played as many games as Kingman.

As far as runs and RBIs, Dunn is among the leaders, but it's hard not to be when you're on pace to hit 40+ homeruns. That said, he's not a great RBI guy, his career high in a season is 106. Considering all the 40 HR years he's had, that's not overly impressive.

You're right that Dunn is much better at drawing walks than Kingman was, but I still categorize him as too one-dimensional. (And Dunn strikes out more often than Kingman did -- Kingman struck out a little less than once every four at bats; Dunn does slightly over one-third of the time.) A .241 batting average is very weak. Even Greg Luzinski had a career mark of .276 and Ralph Kiner's was .279, and they were viewed as one dimensional.

I admire Dunn's power and consistency but I can't call a player great that hits .241 and strikes out all the time. I root for him but he's not one of my favorite baseball players.
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Valid points Don, but even Mark McGwire only got 100 RBIs 5 times, and had a .262 avg. he alsot struck out all the time. But he was considered an all time great until the roid scandal erupted.

The point is that white sluggers like Dunn and Thome are belittled by the media so often for not having a great BA that they get overlooked for just how great they really are. And it becomes conventional wisdom then that they really aren't that good even though they hit a bunch of HRs, score tons of runs and walk a ton.
 
Carolina Speed

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knightedsoldier5000 said:
Valid points Don, but even Mark McGwire only got 100 RBIs 5 times, and had a .262 avg. he alsot struck out all the time. But he was considered an all time great until the roid scandal erupted.

The point is that white sluggers like Dunn and Thome are belittled by the media so often for not having a great BA that they get overlooked for just how great they really are. And it becomes conventional wisdom then that they really aren't that good even though they hit a bunch of HRs, score tons of runs and walk a ton.
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Knightedsoldier5000,

McGwire had over 100 RBI's 7 times and 99 in 1988. Years include 1987, 1990, 1992, 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999. McGwires HR/AB a record 10.6. Won ROY with still a record 49 HR's, hit .300 twice, won 3 sliver slugger awards, a World Series and never led the league in strike outs.

McGwire had many other awards also. I think he even won a Golden Glove?

Dunn; although hits alot of HR's, I don't consider anywhere near Mark McGwire!

However, I do get your point about Dunn. I really like him. He played for my favorite team (Cincinnati). I will support him, I just wish he hit for a little better average and didn't strike out so much, but there is a place for 35 HR's and 88 RBI's (through 2010) in a MLB lineup, which is what Dunn has averaged over his career.
 
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Carolina Speed said:
Knightedsoldier5000,

McGwire had over 100 RBI's 7 times and 99 in 1988. Years include 1987, 1990, 1992, 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999. McGwires HR/AB a record 10.6. Won ROY with still a record 49 HR's, hit .300 twice, won 3 sliver slugger awards, a World Series and never led the league in strike outs.

McGwire had many other awards also. I think he even won a Golden Glove?

Dunn; although hits alot of HR's, I don't consider anywhere near Mark McGwire!

However, I do get your point about Dunn. I really like him. He played for my favorite team (Cincinnati). I will support him, I just wish he hit for a little better average and didn't strike out so much, but there is a place for 35 HR's and 88 RBI's (through 2010) in a MLB lineup, which is what Dunn has averaged over his career.
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You are right Carolina - Mac got 100 rbi 7 times, not 5. I was a huge fan of his but to be honest i consider him to be a cheater now after the roid scandal.
 
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Adam Dunn with career HR #399 tonight. If he can keep his weight down and stay healthy, 500 HRs is a definite possibility once again, after a disastrous 2011.
 
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