400 Home Run Club’s Newest Member is Adam Dunn
Saturday night against the Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox slugger Adam Dunn hit his 400th home run of his career on a deep blast to left center field. He is the 50th player in Major League Baseball history to reach this milestone. Dunn and Paul Konerko are the first teammates in MLB history to hit their 400th home run in the same season.
Dunn, 32, has played 12 seasons with four different teams. He played with the Cincinnati Reds from 2001 until he was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks at the trade deadline in 2008. He spent just 44 games with the DBacks until the end of ’08. He signed a 2 year $20 million deal with the Washington Nationals and had two very productive seasons. After unsuccessfully trying to trade for him at the trade deadline in 2010, the White Sox waited until the offseason to sign the big left handed slugger to a four-year, $56 million contract.
In 2011, Dunn had not only one of his worst seasons of his career, but one of the worst seasons in MLB history. In 496 at bats, he hit .159/.292/.277 for an on base plus slugging of .569 while only hitting 16 doubles, 11 home runs and driving in 42 RBI. Dunn had a -3.1 Wins Above Replacement in 2011; before that, his worst season was a -0.6 WAR in 2009.
Dunn has bounced back in a big way in 2012. He is not hitting for average at all, but is still getting on base and driving in runs. Currently he is hitting .209/.342/.494 for an OPS of .836 with a MLB-leading 35 home runs while driving in 83 runs. He also leads the league in walks with 86, but he also leads the majors in strikeouts with 172.
Kevin Youkilis also reached a milestone in the at bat right before Dunn hit his 400th home run. Youk got his 1,000th hit in the major leagues Saturday night on a line drive to left field. He has gotten a majority of those with the Boston Red Sox. At the end of June, Youk was traded to the White Sox after struggling in Boston earlier this season.
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