Adam Dunn
Big Donkey mastered the art of the three true outcomes before analytics made it fashionable. Dunn struck out 2,379 times in his career — more than any player in history at the time of his retirement — yet still posted a 114 OPS+ over 14 seasons by drawing walks and crushing baseballs into orbit.
His 462 career home runs tell only half the story. Dunn averaged 40 homers per 162 games while maintaining an elite walk rate that made pitchers pay for avoiding the zone. The guy was basically a DH playing left field, and he didn't care who knew it.
Modern front offices would build around a player like Dunn, but he played in an era when batting average still mattered to voters and fans. Those 2,379 strikeouts? They were the price of admission for watching one of the most reliable power sources of the 2000s.
Career · Batting
14 seasons| Year | Team | G | AB | HR | RBI | AVG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | CIN | 66 | 244 | 19 | 43 | .262 | .948 | 125 |
| 2002 | CIN | 158 | 535 | 26 | 71 | .249 | .854 | 114 |
| 2003 | CIN | 116 | 381 | 27 | 57 | .215 | .819 | 109 |
| 2004 | CIN | 161 | 568 | 46 | 102 | .266 | .956 | 125 |
| 2005 | CIN | 160 | 543 | 40 | 101 | .247 | .927 | 124 |
| 2006 | CIN | 160 | 561 | 40 | 92 | .234 | .855 | 111 |
| 2007 | CIN | 152 | 522 | 40 | 106 | .264 | .940 | 124 |
| 2008 | CIN | 158 | 517 | 40 | 100 | .236 | .898 | 120 |
| 2009 | WSH | 159 | 546 | 38 | 105 | .267 | .928 | 124 |
| 2010 | WSH | 158 | 558 | 38 | 103 | .260 | .892 | 122 |
| 2011 | CWS | 122 | 415 | 11 | 42 | .159 | .569 | 79 |
| 2012 | CWS | 151 | 539 | 41 | 96 | .204 | .800 | 110 |
| 2013 | CWS | 149 | 525 | 34 | 86 | .219 | .762 | 107 |
| 2014 | CWS | 131 | 429 | 22 | 64 | .219 | .752 | 107 |
| Career | 2001 | 6883 | 462 | 1168 | .237 | — | — | |
Matchups, projections, comps — grounded in Lahman, Retrosheet, and Statcast.