Dunn making strides in quest for majors

Jul. 2—Nick Dunn is no seat filler.

You've heard of seat fillers, right? They're the people paid to take up empty seats at certain events, such as Broadway shows or the Academy Awards, to give the impression of a full house.

Baseball players can become seat fillers of sorts. Those with too much talent to discard but not enough to make the big leagues can languish in the minors for seasons on end. They fill out rosters and plug openings on lineup cards year after year as other players come and go around them.

For example, Drew Maggi, a 34-year-old drafted by Pittsburgh in 2010, played 1,155 minor league games over 13 seasons before the Pirates finally promoted him in April.

Nick Dunn is no seat filler.

The 2015 Shikellamy graduate and former University of Maryland standout is in his fifth year of pro ball, all in the St. Louis Cardinals organization, which made Dunn a 2018 fifth-round draft pick. It's the second baseman's third season at Springfield (Mo.) of the Double-A Texas League, and he is enjoying his most successful stretch as a pro hitter.

In fact, Dunn has made tremendous strides over the last calendar year, culminating with a red-hot month of June that pushed his statistics to career-best levels.

"It's good to see the work and the adjustments I've been trying to make are starting to show a little bit," he said this week before the start of a six-game road series against the Arkansas Travelers.

Dunn entered play Wednesday as the Cardinals' batting leader at .319, which ranked third in the Texas League. His .420 on-base percentage was fourth-best in the league. He was also among the top 15 in OPS (on-base plus slugging) and on pace for career-high counting stats.

This is the hitter Dunn saw in the mirror when he set the Shikellamy record with a .544 average in his sophomore year. This is the guy who had 200-plus hits and was an All-American at Maryland.

This is a player who has gradually become a commodity that could draw interest from beyond the St. Louis system.

"Sometimes there's a little bit of an adjustment period. It can be shorter for some guys, longer for other guys. It is definitely nice to see results like that," said Dunn. "A couple years ago, I had confidence in myself that I would be able to make adjustments. It was just a matter of how I was going to — what my process was going to be — and to see it starting to pay off a little bit is definitely a good feeling."

Turning the corner

At the end of Dunn's first season in Springfield, he had a sit-down with team officials to discuss his progress and plot a course for the future.

He hit .259 for the Cardinals in 2021, which was a modest improvement from his 2019 season with Palm Beach in the Advanced-A Florida State League (.247). It was a decent showing for his return to the diamond after COVID-19 wiped out the 2020 minor league campaign.

However, there was much room for improvement. Perhaps most nagging was his strikeout rate of once every 5.5 at-bats. His 59 strikeouts were 23 more than his walk total for the season.

"One of the things we talked about in my meeting was my bat-to-ball skill was always kind of one of my better tools — I was always able to put the ball in play a lot. So, basically, the goal going into last year was how can I use that to my advantage?" Dunn recalled. "How can I be more patient, more selective? Being able to put the ball in play in any count — especially with two strikes — could be very useful if you take advantage of it."

A month into the 2022 season, playing more sporadically as Springfield's fifth infielder, Dunn's average dipped to .148. He had more walks than strikeouts through 17 games, though, a trend that continued as his playing time increased. In a month's time he hiked his average 100 points, and by late July his average (.291) and OPS (.830) reached their season peaks.

"Most athletes, especially at this level, their toughest judge is usually themselves," he said. "We expect a lot out of ourselves, which isn't always easy ... and you kind of have to block out things sometimes. You can usually understand what you're capable of doing and the adjustments and changes you're capable of making. It's just a matter of figuring out how you're going to do it and do it on a more consistent basis.

"So I was trying to refine my approach a little bit, to still be aggressive in the right counts but also to be patient at the right times. If that means taking pitches that are borderline strikes ... (it's) not being worried about being deep into counts, but being confident and being able to still put the ball in play hard with two strikes. It's something I was fortunate enough to always be able to do."

Dunn had 11 hits in a four-game stretch over five days in late June 2022. There were home runs in back-to-back games in late July. He struck out only twice in his final 49 at-bats, ending the season with 21 more walks than strikeouts while batting .271. He finished with 24 more hits and 29 more runs scored in 17 more games than his first year in Springfield.

"When you get into professional baseball, one of the first things they tell you is, Hey, it's a long season. There's a lot of games. What you do at the beginning doesn't always really affect you that much overall," he said. "I think the more seasons you have under your belt, you become a more mature player and realize, Hey, I can hit a buck-fifty the first month and still end the season with really good numbers."

Dunn was named the top second baseman in the St. Louis farm system by MiLB.com, which chose Organization All-Stars for all 30 teams. He was selected alongside current Cardinals major leaguers Jordan Walker (3B), Alec Burleson (OF) and Matthew Liberatore (P).

"Regardless of what's said, good or bad, you've got to make adjustments, you've got to produce, and you've got to be consistent," Dunn said. "It's obviously nice to hear things like that, but, at the same time, you're always pushing to make it, advance a level, anything. It doesn't really affect or change the work you put in to keep improving."

"He's got great discipline"

When asked about Dunn's red-hot 2022 summer, Springfield manager Jose Leger told a blogger, "He's always had the ability to make contact."

Cardinals director of player development Gary LaRocque told MiLB.com. "He's worked extremely hard. The big thing (Dunn) brings to the table is his contact skills, and he's got great discipline at the plate."

Like a supermodel who tires of people commenting only on her looks, you'd think Dunn would be so over being labeled a contact guy. His slugging percentage has improved annually along with his average, while his errors have dwindled. However, his ability to make contact has served him well at every level, if not been the key factor in his success.

"That's something that I've always taken pride in because sometimes that's a tough tool to have, especially at a high level," he said. "To be able to have that is something I can work with regardless of who's pitching, what the count is, and that gives you confidence. You have it in the back your mind, that, Hey, I can still put the ball in play with two strikes like I would if I was ahead in the count.

"The biggest change, I think, for me going into last year was being a little more patient and not worrying about having to put the ball in play on certain pitches. I think that ended up being pretty much the main reason I was able to flip the strikeouts and walks around last year. That's something that I continued to work on in the offseason and kind of carried it into this year, too."

Prior to the start of the current Arkansas series (and following a 3-for-4 Sunday at Frisco, Texas), Dunn's slash line was a career-best .319/.419/.454/.873. With one game remaining in June, he had batted .378 (34-for-90) with eight doubles, two home runs, 13 RBIs and 19 runs scored in the month. He ranked ninth in the Texas League with 37 walks, but only Dunn and one other player had more walks than strikeouts among the top 25.

"For some reason, the last few years I have had a strong finish to the season," Dunn said. "It was kind of up-and-down in '21, and then I had a really good finish. In 2022, I made those adjustments, flipped some numbers around, and it was still a little up-and-down but I had a good finish. Going into this year, it was (a question of) how can make adjustments to limit some of those up-and-downs, and maybe the strong finish can be a more consistent thing in the beginning and middle of the season."

Dunn insisted he doesn't concern himself with the prospect of a promotion to Triple-A Memphis before season's end or one day fulfilling a dream with a call to the bigs.

The path to St. Louis was cluttered when third baseman Nolan Gorman, the top pick in Dunn's draft class, was moved to second base. Brendan Donovan, a college third baseman who was chosen two rounds after Dunn, filled in at second at times since being called to the majors in 2022.

Thirty-year-old Juniel Querecuto and Kramer Robertson, 28, played second base most often for Memphis.

"There's so many moves made every year — guys are moving around, new draft picks coming in — that guys try not to look at that stuff. That's basically out of your hands," Dunn said. "All you can really do is focus on being the best player where you're at right now. If trying to be the best player you can be in the Texas League is where you're at right now, then there's no reason to look ahead.

"There's always scouts at games, so regardless of what's going on with the organization that you're with, you're also playing for every other team in the league. You never know who's going to need somebody, and you might fit the mold for what they need.

"All I can do is keep working, keep improving and be prepared and do the best that I can."

Dunn won't sit on his laurels.

He's no seat filler.