Blake Dunn gets to add another award to his shelf after being named the Midwest League Player of the Month for April. The announcement came just three days after Dunn was named the player of the week for the final week of April. The outfielder had one of the more impressive months in recent memory for the Dayton Dragons. He played in 19 games and hit .386, going 22-57. Of those 22 hits he had three doubles and he had five home runs. That would lead to a .702 slugging percentage. Dunn also walked 12 times and was hit by eight pitches during the month, which gave him an absurdly high .539 on-base percentage. On the bases he went 11-for-12 in stolen base attempts.
Blake Dunn led the Midwest League in OPS with a 1.240 mark, on-base percentage, and runs scored with 17. He finished second in the league in batting average, slugging percentage, steals, home runs, and runs batted in with 18.
There were only three games in which Blake Dunn didn’t reach base during the month of April. The first game was on opening night and Dunn didn’t start and didn’t get a plate appearance, but did enter the game as a pinch runner. The next time was a week later when he went 0-4. And then on April 27th he went 0-1, coming off of the bench to pinch hit late in the game.
You don’t have to go back too far to find the last Cincinnati Reds prospect to win a player of the month award for their league. Elly De La Cruz picked up the honor in the Southern League last August when he was with the Chattanooga Lookouts. To get the last Dayton Dragon you don’t have to go much further back than that. Joe Boyle picked up the Midwest League Pitcher of the Month award for May of 2022.