The lessons White Sox prospect Dane Dunning took from a stellar first season

Share

Though he leveled off a little after a Nintendo-like April, Dane Dunning was outstanding to end his first full season.

It took the No. 10 prospect in the organization time to adjust to High-A hitters at Winston-Salem. But once he did, Dunning -- who allowed one hit and struck out nine in seven scoreless innings on Sunday -- produced the same low-walk rate that earned him a quick promotion from Low-A Kannapolis. The starting pitcher’s adjustment helped him cap a strong first season with the White Sox on a positive note as he posted a 2.93 ERA over his final eight starts.

“The farther you go up the more hitters are able to see pitches,” Dunning recently said. “(In the AZL league), a lot of people will swing early on and swing at stuff that isn’t that close so you’re able to get away with more. Coming up here, there’s a couple more hitters in each lineup that can see the ball better. I think that’s the way it is all the way up to the big leagues, you add a couple more where you’ve got to bear down on each person.”

Dunning, who’s a good bet to begin next season at Double-A Birmingham, fashions himself as a strike-thrower.

He doesn’t have the same explosive arsenal as some of the other top pitching prospects in the White Sox system. But Dunning -- who only made 20 starts in college and was mostly a swingman at Florida -- has good enough stuff to get outs (each of his three main pitches is graded 55 on MLB.com’s 20-80 scouting scale) and knows the odds are in his favor and therefore likes to attack the zone. In April, Dunning filled up the zone with strikes on 69 percent of his pitches, which earned him a promotion from Single-A Kannapolis to Winston-Salem.

But the transition to Winston-Salem after two walks in 26 innings at Kannapolis wasn’t quite as smooth. Hitters didn’t bite always bite and Dunning served a seven-game suspension for throwing behind a hitter’s head in a May 19 start. From May 7-July 8, Dunning issued 24 walks in 57 2/3 innings. He still posted a 3.30 ERA over that span, but wasn’t as effective as he had been.

“Although it still is A-ball, there are better hitters,” player development director Chris Getz said. “There are guys who have been around a little longer and so all of a sudden they may not be swinging at something and it can kind of effect you as a pitcher or a position player.”

Around mid-July Dunning said he started to adjust. One of his biggest keys has been learning to slow down the game and avoid the big inning. While he still has had an occasional blemish, Dunning found better footing and started to excel. That didn’t surprise Winston-Salem manager Willie Harris, who predicts that both Dunning and teammate Alec Hansen will one day become major leaguers.

“They’re going to come right after you as pitchers,” Harris said. “They’re not afraid of contact. They believe in their ability, they believe in their stuff. They both have big league stuff. It’s just a point of being more consistent for those guys, figuring some things out, tinkering here and there until they fully get their mechanics down to a tee … it’s just a matter of time for those guys.”

Over his final eight starts, Dunning walked only 10 batters in 46 innings while allowing 41 hits, striking out 56. He also threw strikes 68 percent of the time. That stretch ended with a flourish as Dunning struck out 19 and allowed two earned runs, three hits and walked two over 13 innings in his final two starts of the season. It’s exactly the way Dunning hoped to end his first full season.

“I feel extremely good,” Dunning said. “The last couple of outings my velo has been up and I feel like I’ve been throwing the ball well.

“I learned a lot (this season) just when it comes to maintaining and the level difference and all that. In my opinion, it’s the same game. I’ve just got to go out there and do what I do, locate at the bottom half of the zone.

“Every level people get better, but my team is getting better as well.”

Contact Us