That's fewer than the plate appearances necessary to qualify for the batting title—and thus, one presumes, the opposite—but who knows how history might have turned out had Nieves not missed two weeks and that, tragically, was not for an injury. So we can say that Dunn is on pace to have the most strikeouts in a season; we can even say that he's still on pace given a realistic number of games and plate appearances.
But less than halfway through the season, Melvin Nieves reigns as the superior strikeout artist. Related: One curious thing about Dunn: his ground balls have spiked recently and his fly balls have dropped off. This is what a slump looks like :. Only two men have done it and lasted more than PAs in a season since , and only one remained in baseball: Dave Nicholson , who spent three of his seven years with the White Sox, during which he struck out Nicholson was so strong that when he once turned off all the clubhouse showers in a fit of pique, it took a plumber to unscrew them.
Between his massive signing bonus, massive power, and inability to make contact, Nicholson was basically the proto-Joe Borchard. Chicago magazine newsletters have you covered.
Find out where to go, what to eat, where to live, and more. Subscribe for free today! I would just look at the pitcher and catcher and their tendencies and the philosophy of the other team. I would always get myself in holes. I would be a lot, and obviously, it's hard to hit But right or wrong, I had a plan, and I would try to stick to it the entire game and not get away from it. There's a pride factor with striking out , but I tried to let the game dictate situations. With a guy on third and less than two outs, it's time to put the ball in play and get that guy in.
If there are two outs and nobody on in the first inning, I'm looking for something I can drive for a double. I'm not going to swing at a first-pitch changeup and ground out to first base. What does that do? From what you've seen, what do you think of the modern emphasis on power and the proliferation of strikeouts? AD: Everything evolves, and this is the era we're in. People see if you hit homers and drive in a lot of runs, you're going to get where you need to get financially.
Does it help a team if you have a couple of those guys? But if you have nine of them, it's going to be tough. Here's a great example: Where's the two-hole hitter nowadays?
Where's the Barry Larkin? He's a Hall of Famer and one of the greatest players to play the game. And when he was hitting in the two hole and someone led off with a double, he would hit a ground ball to second base and get that guy over 9.
He would be 0-for-1 in the stats, and it didn't help him, but he was trying to get the guy over every single time when the situation called for it. Where's that guy today? When people reflect on your career, they think of the homers and strikeouts and your designation as a "three true outcomes'' hitter. What did you think of that term and your identification with it?
AD: At the time, I didn't really pay attention to it. I never looked at myself as that low-batting average guy, but I kind of morphed into it. I always thought one day I would wake up and the old Adam would be back and we would roll. Maybe he'll show up when I'm How else has the game changed since you broke into the majors with Cincinnati in ?
AD: I kind of caught the tail end of what I think of as the old-school way. Just little stuff, like kangaroo court.
Or a veteran would walk into the shower and tell a kid, "Beat it -- it's my shower. People didn't respect the older guys anymore. Twenty minutes after the game now, everyone is gone. Guys are catching cabs and going to play Xbox.
Don't get me wrong. I play Xbox, but I also like to sit and talk shop. You learn about a lot of things. Dunn had never participated in the postseason before, and his first and last game as a member of a playoff team came without so much as an appearance on the diamond. In some ways, that status was a fait accompli.
After all, Dunn graced the cover of Baseball Prospectus back in , following a rookie season that saw him place among the top 30 hitters in baseball by OPS despite a mediocre batting average and plenty of strikeouts. Despite his recent slump , 2 New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge — whose 6-foot-7 frame brings to mind a right-handed version of the 6-foot-6 Dunn at the plate — ranks fourth this season in wins above replacement WAR 3 and is still in the American League MVP conversation.
But some hitters can still overdo it; in fact, there are some legitimately bad ballplayers in the Adam Dunn Club these days. One — Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays — is headed for a homer, walk season that will also likely be below the replacement level , quite possibly earning him the worst Dunn Club season in history.
In his interview with Crasnick, even Dunn himself was skeptical of an entire lineup of batters who hit like he did.
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