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Austin
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Adam Dunn got a rare start Friday, and to honor the moment, he delivered a baseball oddity.
With a strikeout in the second inning and a foul out in the fourth, Dunn's strikeout total of 161 matched his batting average of .161.
Dunn remained at .161 after an 0-for-4 night.
"It's a very tough season. He knows that. We all know that," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "I think it's very desperate and sad to see a guy go through what he's been through but there is nothing you can do about it. You have to erase that and take every at-bat you have left and get the best at-bat you can and see what happens and get ready for next year."
Only once in baseball history has a hitter (non-pitcher) with more than 35 plate appearances had a strikeout total that was higher than his batting average.
That came last season, when Mark Reynolds, then of the Arizona Diamondbacks, did it with 211 strikeouts and a .198 batting average.
Dunn's strikeout-batting average collision course seemed destined to happen in August, but he was benched after the arrival of Dayan Viciedo.
Friday was the third time Dunn has been in the lineup since Aug. 28.
With just one hit in his past 24 at-bats, Dunn simply has been unable to stop his slide toward becoming an obscure footnote.
Other players have been relatively close to the mark, according to baseballreference.com, including Dunn in 2006, when he had 194 strikeouts and a .234 batting average.
There have been 10 players whose strikeout total was 80 percent of batting average points. Dunn is on that list twice, including this season, Reynolds is on it four times, Rob Deer twice and once each for Carlos Pena and Jack Cust.
With a strikeout in the second inning and a foul out in the fourth, Dunn's strikeout total of 161 matched his batting average of .161.
Dunn remained at .161 after an 0-for-4 night.
"It's a very tough season. He knows that. We all know that," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "I think it's very desperate and sad to see a guy go through what he's been through but there is nothing you can do about it. You have to erase that and take every at-bat you have left and get the best at-bat you can and see what happens and get ready for next year."
Only once in baseball history has a hitter (non-pitcher) with more than 35 plate appearances had a strikeout total that was higher than his batting average.
That came last season, when Mark Reynolds, then of the Arizona Diamondbacks, did it with 211 strikeouts and a .198 batting average.
Dunn's strikeout-batting average collision course seemed destined to happen in August, but he was benched after the arrival of Dayan Viciedo.
Friday was the third time Dunn has been in the lineup since Aug. 28.
With just one hit in his past 24 at-bats, Dunn simply has been unable to stop his slide toward becoming an obscure footnote.
Other players have been relatively close to the mark, according to baseballreference.com, including Dunn in 2006, when he had 194 strikeouts and a .234 batting average.
There have been 10 players whose strikeout total was 80 percent of batting average points. Dunn is on that list twice, including this season, Reynolds is on it four times, Rob Deer twice and once each for Carlos Pena and Jack Cust.
