Adam Dunn

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**Adam Dunn**
Image:Adam Dunn.jpg
Cincinnati Reds — No. 44
Left Fielder
Born: November 9 1979 (1979-11-09) (age 29)
Bats: Left	Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
July 20, 2001 for the Cincinnati Reds
Selected MLB statistics (through September 27, 2007)
Avg	.248
HR	238
RBI	572
Teams
Cincinnati Reds (2001-present)

Adam Troy Dunn (born November 9, 1979, in Houston, Texas), is a Major League Baseball outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds. He bats left-handed and throws right-handed. A former standout quarterback at New Caney (Texas) High School, Dunn signed with the University of Texas however, Dunn quit football and concentrated on baseball. The Reds drafted Dunn in the second round of the 1998 amateur draft while he was still an active collegian. Dunn signed and quit college.

He was elected to the 2002 National League All-Star team.

At six feet, six inches in height and weighing 275 pounds, Dunn, who is one of the National League's most feared sluggers, invites frequent comparisons to Mark McGwire.

Adam Dunn's most productive season came in 2004, when he posted career highs in batting average (.266), home runs (46), runs (105), hits (151), on base percentage (.388), slugging average (.569), and OPS (.957). He also held the single-season strikout record {195} before Ryan Howard broke it on September 27, 2007.

Dunn made his Major League debut on July 20, 2001 and set a National League rookie record for the most home runs in a month by hitting 12 in August. On September 30, 2004, Dunn once again got his name in Major League Baseball's record book albeit not in the manner he wished. That day, Dunn struck out three times against Chicago Cubs right-hander Mark Prior, raising his season total to 191 and surpassing Bobby Bonds' single season strikeout record of 189, set in 1970. He finished the season with 195 strikeouts. Later Ryan Howard struck out 199 times in the 2007 season.

Dunn's 46 longballs in 2004 were the fourth most in Cincinnati Reds history. That year, he joined Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan as the only Reds players to score 100 runs, drive in 100 runs, and draw 100 walks in a single season. Dunn repeated the feat the following season making him the only player in Reds history to do it more than once.

On Mother's Day, May 14, 2006, Dunn was one of more than 50 hitters who brandished a pink bat to benefit the Breast Cancer Foundation.

In 2004, 2005, and 2006, he struck out 34.3%, 30.9%, and 34.6% of the time, in each year the highest percentage in major league baseball.[1][2][3] Despite the high strikeout total, Dunn often exhibits good plate discipline. He is among the major league leaders every season in number of pitches per at-bat, an indication that he generally knows when to swing and when not to. Although his career batting average is only .246, he has compiled a robust .384 on-base percentage while striking out about ten times for every six walks and averages more than one strikeout per game. He always is one of the top receivers in base on balls. However, his main weakness continues to be his tendency in striking out at rates that alarm baseball traditionalists. From the sabermetric perspective, many point out that his on-base percentage is actually higher than several hitters with batting averages over .300 each year.

Adam Dunn has the sixth lowest career AB/HR (at bats per home run) average in major league history. His 14.17 (about 1 HR every 14 times he comes to bat) is eclipsed only by Mark McGuire (10.61), Babe Ruth (11.76), Barry Bonds (12.90), Jim Thome (13.68), and Ralph Kiner (14.11). Stretching behind Dunn are such hall-of-famers as Killebrew, Williams, Mantle, Foxx, and Schmidt, in that order.

On October 31, 2007, Dunn's $13 million dollar option was picked up by the Reds, making him the highest-paid player on the team.

[edit] Position changes

In December, 2005, Reds manager Jerry Narron informed the press that, due to the trade of popular first baseman Sean Casey to the Pittsburgh Pirates for left-handed pitcher Dave Williams, Adam Dunn would be moving to first base for the 2006 season. However, with the acquisition of free agent first baseman Scott Hatteberg (who played for the Oakland Athletics in 2005) during spring training and the March 20th trade of outfielder Wily Mo Pena to the Boston Red Sox for right-handed pitcher Bronson Arroyo, the plan to convert Dunn was scrapped (Dunn had mentioned that he would rather not play 1B also) and, to date, he has only played a handful of games there.