MLB: In a season of goodbyes, Adam Dunn will be missed

2014 is a transitional year for MLB, as the game says goodbye to several notable figures in the game, including its 20-year commissioner in Bud Selig, and an almost-assured Hall of Famer in Derek Jeter. But 2014 likely marks the final season of a legendary player, not a player universally loved, but if you enjoy watching people who are the best in the world at doing something, the American League Wild Card game might be your last chance to catch one of the greatest power hitters to ever grace Major League Baseball: Adam Dunn.

To say Adam Dunn was a beloved baseball player is likely a lie. For starters, Dunn was a journeyman after his first seven seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, but later made stops with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Washington Nationals and Chicago White Sox, with those teams all failing to make the playoffs. Dunn was traded in August to the Oakland Athletics, and will play in the postseason for the first time this year.

For many baseball fans, Dunn was simply a tolerated player. Though Dunn wasn’t the first “three true outcomes” hitter (meaning the batter is most likely to either walk, strikeout, or hit a home run), but he was perhaps the greatest. Dunn has his faults as a hitter (many fans would claim his biggest fault is his inability to seemingly make contact), but with power numbers down across MLB, it’s hard for me to not appreciate what a unique career Dunn had, particularly his early years with the Reds, and how little we as MLB fans appreciated his excellence in that time.

Dunn, quite simply, was excellent at what he does: eating baseballs and crapping out home runs. From 2004 to 2008, Dunn had at least 40 home runs and more than 100 walks in every year; in that same span, He scored more than 100 runs in all but the 2006 and 2008 seasons during that span. Oh, and he’s averaged 33 home runs a year in his career.

Adam Dunn did two things really well in the game, and often, I feel fans only wanted to focus on what Dunn wasn’t able to do. If you cling to batting average as a useful tool to evaluate Major League hitters, you probably didn’t care too much for Dunn, as he never hit for a high average, and his career BA is .237. Of course, Dunn’s career on base percentage is significantly more excellent, at .364, because if Adam Dunn can’t hit one of your pitches for a home run, he’s going to try to take a stroll to first base and let a teammate hit a home run to knock him in — Dunn scored 1097 runs in his career, not bad for a guy usually lower in the lineup.

He couldn’t field the ball, no matter where you tried to hide his glove. In his career, he’s cost the teams he’s played for by being in the field, with -66 Defensive Runs Saved at first base in his career, and -103 DRS in his career in the outfield. Very early in his career, Dunn was above average on the basepaths, including a 19-stolen base season in 2002, but since 2008 he will likely cost your team runs on the basepaths.

Luckily for your team, he’d likely earn those runs back. And it would almost assuredly be via a majestic, ridiculously long home run. Dunn will finish his career with 462 home runs, an impressive tally for only 14 years in the Majors. In fact, in only two seasons, his rookie year and a dismal 2011 season, did Dunn finish with fewer than 20 home runs (and in his rookie year of 2001, he had 19 HR).

Again, there will likely be some cynical fans who will scoff at Dunn’s accomplishments, because they fear the strikeout, despite a strikeout being only marginally worse than a batted ball out. And Adam Dunn struck out a bunch in his career, 2,379 whiffs in his 6883 at bats, meaning in 28.6 percent of Dunn’s MLB at bats, he struck out.

But for me, I will truly miss Adam Dunn. He’s likely my favorite MLB player, despite his faults. I enjoy watching the best baseball players in the world. I enjoy seeing guys such as Clayton Kershaw pitching, Miguel Cabrera hitting, and Josh Donaldson fielding. But sometimes, MLB players are a bit more specialized in what they’re “the best” at — Billy Hamilton is the fastest man in MLB, few hitters have as good of plate discipline as Carlos Santana, few relievers strike out batters like Aroldis Chapman.

And Adam Dunn could hit home runs. Not all the time, but when Dunn did, it was simply a sight to behold.

Dunn will taste the postseason for the first time in his career this week, when the Athletics head to Missouri to take on the Kansas City Royals in the Wild Card game. While I still hold out hope Dunn will change his mind, and return to the game for at least another season, I know he doesn’t need to do so. Adam Dunn can retire from Major League Baseball after this season, and though he will likely never reach the Hall of Fame, the big, burly power hitter can take solace in one simple fact:

He was legendary.

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