After battling past injuries, Reds minor leaguer Blake Dunn commanding attention

In some ways, the clock is ticking on Cincinnati Reds minor league outfielder Blake Dunn, the oldest position player on the High-A Dayton Dragons roster. Then in other ways, this is just the beginning.

Injuries limited the 24-year-old Dunn to a combined 48 games over the last two seasons. He was a 15^th-round pick in 2021, so there is typically a little less patience compared to guys who receive large signing bonuses at the top of the draft.

The thing about Dunn is whenever he’s been healthy, he’s performed in a big way. He entered Friday with a .343 batting average and a .489 on-base percentage through his first 22 games. He’s totaled five homers, three doubles and 18 RBI in 70 at-bats with 13 stolen bases and nearly as many walks (12) as strikeouts (15).

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“For me, my pro ball experience has been a little different story so far than most other people,” said Dunn, who was drafted out of Western Michigan University. “I’m just trying to get at-bats, trying to get experience, trying to stay on the field so I can continue to do my thing and play the game I love. That’s just the biggest thing I’m focusing on. I’m not worried about my age versus some of the other guys’ age on the team because ultimately when it comes down to it, we’re all competing and we’re all playing for the same thing.”

Dunn has had bad luck with injuries

Dunn’s start to professional baseball has marked by bizarre injuries. He broke his nose in 2021 when he was fielding a sinking line drive in left field and the ball took a high bounce off the turf and hit him in the face.

In 2022, he missed the first month of the season with a forearm strain. After playing in 18 games at Low-A Daytona, he had a nasty collision with 6-foot-5, 290-pound first baseman Ruben Ibarra as the two of them chased after a foul ball. He was sidelined for nearly three months with a shoulder injury that fortunately didn’t require surgery.

Dunn did return for the final three weeks of the season and, no surprise, he found a way to make an impact. He had 13 hits in 39 at-bats (.342 batting average) with two homers, 10 RBI and seven stolen bases.

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“That’s just part of baseball and part of life; you deal with adversity,” Dunn said. “You just have to be able to deal with it, take it head on, push through and that’s what I did. I did my rehab as best as I could because my goal was to get back on the field by the end of the season. That was just my thought process the entire time while I was in rehab.”

Scouts view Dunn as a potential fourth or fifth outfielder on a major league team. He doesn’t have a standout tool, which separates him from outfielders taken atop the draft, but he’s solid across the board.

His speed plays up – he was a three-time Michigan state champion in the 300-meter hurdles in high school – because he’s a good baserunner. He doesn’t have a ton of raw power, but if he continues to show strong plate discipline, he should hit for average. He can handle all three spots in the outfield.

Dunn won't pull back from aggressive style of play

As much aggression as he shows on the basepaths, he plays defense with a similar flair. Even after the Ibarra collision, he had a diving play on a shallow fly ball last month where he sprinted in and an infielder moved out the way at the last second.

“The thing we really like about him is he plays the game kind of like a righthanded version of (TJ) Friedl,” said Shawn Pender, the Reds’ farm director. “He does a lot of things fundamentally sound. He’s an aggressive hitter, but he’s really developed plate coverage and a better understanding of who he is offensively. He just plays the game the right way. You know you are going to get great effort and a significant amount of production.”

Dunn was named the Midwest League player of the week Monday after he hit .550 in a six-game series with three homers, 10 RBI, nine runs and four stolen bases.

When he was asked about the incredible numbers he put up throughout the week, his response focused on the team losing four of its six games, all by one run.

“Those are always stingers, but that’s part of baseball,” said Dunn, who was named the Midwest League player of the month for April. “Especially for us in the minor leagues, we all, as a team, have to learn how to win in those situations.”

Dunn is a Saugatuck, Michigan native where he was an all-state high school quarterback, a 1,500-point scorer on the basketball team, a state champion hurdler in track and none of those were even his best sport. Reflecting on his injury-plagued start to his pro career, Dunn says he wouldn’t change a thing. His past made him into the player he is today.

That player, at least through first month of the season, is one who may soon be headed to Double-A.

“I’ve been working really hard and I think I’m in a good spot,” Dunn said. “I’m excited to see what the future holds for not just me, but the entire organization because I think a lot of people are going in the right direction for us.”