11-18 month, a couple of misplaced chairs and Danny’s stereo gone too.
Not a good month for the Reds … typical Dunn month of May.
Adam Dunn has always had months with really low batting averages, and this May (and the past 2) have been one of those months.
Below are the past 4 months of May for Dunn, a fast starter Dunn could boast prior to this season an April line of .286/.449/.621, In short he takes off quick and puts up some unworldly numbers. This April was a mirror of all the other Aprils combined as Dunn had a strong .292/.427/.694line as the month of May started.
As mentioned Dunn and May have had their problems since his first May in 2002.
MAY BA OB% SLG% OPS R RBI EBH HR BB 2002 .323 .480 .594 1.074 17 21 13 6 30 2003 .193 .274 .518 .792 12 24 9 9 10 2004 .191 .345 .372 .717 15 10 9 5 20 2005 .200 .392 .495 .887 21 12 11 8 27
Buried in the 5th slot this season Dunn managed to score 21 Runs (14% of the Reds runs in May) through the sheer power of his on base skills. When he did hit the ball hard it was often with no one on base, because of this his solo HR numbers are always going to seem out of whack as is his OB% in RISP opportunities (.410 in 199 ab’s prior to this season, .483 this season)
When Dunn first came to the league his Solo HR’s to HR’s with runners numbers were somewhat even, the last 2 season they have become a little more seperated, with the solo HR happening more often than the ones with men on.
HR’s bases empty – men on
2001 - 11-8 2002 - 15-11 2003 - 15-12 2004 - 29-17 2005 - 9-5 On Pace for 27-15
Pitchers find it easier to walk him and face the bottom of the Reds order, they’ll challenge him when no one is on, and he’ll continue to hit Solo HR’s leading off innings and taking walks with RISP only to die on base when Rich Aurilia types give “professional” at bats.
Despite all this Dunn’s RC/27 for the Month of May was 6.97, slighty below his career average and 1 run below last years total.
For his career Dunns walk totals in May are pretty impressive, in a total of 368 at bats he has walked 87 times. Below are the active players prior to this season with the most at bats and less than 87 walks.
AT BATS AB BB AB OBA OBA RC/G 1 Shea Hillenbrand 2179 86 2179 .322 -.014 4.80 2 A.J. Pierzynski 1899 79 1899 .336 .000 4.89 3 Cesar Izturis 1801 84 1801 .293 -.047 3.44 4 Corey Patterson 1725 88 1725 .303 -.038 4.61 5 Wilton Guerrero 1678 64 1678 .308 -.036 3.95 6 Randall Simon 1588 80 1588 .320 -.018 4.60 7 Carl Crawford 1515 70 1515 .315 -.020 4.81 8 Eddie Perez 1487 83 1487 .298 -.044 3.64 9 Jose Macias 1469 87 1469 .301 -.038 3.84 10 Karim Garcia 1463 81 1463 .279 -.061 3.81
June is particularly a good month historically for Dunn .267/.399/.547, hopefully the pattern will continue
One other May Note.
The 2005 Reds scored more runs in May (145) than any team since the 1976 Cincinnati Reds
152 Runs in May 1976
May Splits BRM
Foster .360 .409 .660 Morgan .291 .408 .519 Perez .287 .364 .506 Rose .257 .377 .349 Bench .225 .308 .387 Davey .320 .383 .447 Griff .333 .405 .434 Ceasar .250 .377 .393
Wow, that’s amazing. Is that right? Most runs for a Reds team in almost 30 years, and we stunk that bad? Gee, think its the pitching….when did we ever give up this many runs in May?