McCoy on Dunn

From today’s Hamilton Journal in an article entitled, “Dunn hitting to all fields”.

On Wednesday, Dunn made contact three times — hitting the baseball to the left side all three, including a double. During the three-game series, Dunn made contact 11 times and hit the ball to the left side five times, including two doubles and a home run.
On purpose? An accident? Reds manager Jerry Narron hopes it’s by design.

“I’m trying not to pull everything, trying to not try to do too much with pitches,” Dunn said. “Just trying to hit it where it is pitched, and that’s where they were throwing it (outside). That’s what I used to do, and hopefully, I can get that back.”

Dunn did it his first season (2001), spraying the baseball everywhere. Narron was not with the club, but he has heard the stories.
“I’ve noticed him in batting practice staying inside the ball and using the entire field,” Narron said. “When he is not hooking the ball, he hits. I hate to see him hook a ball foul, because that means he isn’t hitting.

“When he’s driving the ball to left-center, gap to gap, he’s a much better hitter. I don’t know if it’s that shift or that he is trying to get back to hitting the ball where it is pitched. Everybody tells me when he first came to the big leagues he used the entire field.”
Narron says he’d like to see Dunn use a little man’s swing. “And with his strength, if he hits the ball where it is pitched, he’d still hit 40 home runs, which is what Frank Thomas did when he was younger.”

I don’t want to see Dunn change a lot of his hitting philosophy, but hitting to all fields would definitely help him battle the shift that seems to have frustrated him so much of late.