Dunning dominates vs. former organization

After finding out he'd start the season with Class A Kannapolis, Dane Dunning circled this week's series in Hagerstown on his calendar.
It marked the first time the 2016 first-rounder, who moved to the White Sox system in the Adam Eaton deal in December, would play against an affiliate of the Nationals organization that drafted him. He was looking forward to seeing how he'd fare against old friends.
Dunning was scheduled to miss the series with his fourth start set for last Sunday against Hickory. Then it rained, and his start was pushed back to Monday in the series opener against the Suns. Then it rained out the first two games Monday and Tuesday.

"It's terrible, especially for a starting pitcher like me," he said. "We're on a five-day rotation here. You have your start, then a day off, a bullpen, two more days off and then your start again. You need to get in a groove, but it throws everything off. One day, OK. But by the second and third day, all I'm thinking is let me pitch. ... I couldn't lift. I had to play catch in the rain before getting back on the bus."
Game-time weather on Wednesday: 59 degrees and overcast. And with that, the Intimidators and Crawdads both saw a familiar sight -- a dominant Dunning.
The No. 10 White Sox prospect allowed only two hits and one walk while fanning seven over six innings to lead Kannapolis to a 1-0 win over Hagerstown at Municipal Stadium in the first game of the doubleheader. Dunning improved to 2-0 with a 0.35 ERA over his first four starts.
"It was fun to face these guys," said the 22-year-old right-hander. "We were able to chat after the game and stuff. They were taking some nice swings against me, but I made some pitches and had some good plays behind me. They can definitely hit. It's not an easy lineup at all, that's for sure. But it's nice being able to talk a little smack and just mess with them afterwards."
Box score
Dunning (2-0) retired the first seven Suns he faced before issuing a walk to Tres Barrera in the third inning. Angelo La Bruna followed that with a single, but the Orange Park, Florida native erased that by starting a 1-6-3, inning-ending double play. Hagerstown only put one more runner into scoring position when Nick Banks singled and stole second in the fifth, but he was stranded when Anderson Franco flew out to left and Barrera struck out.
Dunning exited after throwing 58 of his 88 pitches for strikes. He has made quality starts in each of his first four outings to begin his first full season and leads qualified South Atlantic League pitchers with a 0.58 WHIP. He's struck out 33 and walked only two over 26 frames.
Yet the Kannapolis ace said he wasn't entirely on his game and felt fortunate that a lineup featuring five of Washington's top 30 prospects, including No. 3 Juan Soto, No. 4 Carter Kieboom and No. 6 Sheldon Neuse didn't do more damage.
"I left a couple fastballs over the plate, and they were able to capitalize on some of my mistakes," Dunning said. "That's how the game works. They're all really talented. One of the singles was banged up the middle. There was a couple hard-hit balls to second base, a couple deep popups. I was missing middle instead of at the corners, and I can't be doing that normally. One of those balls falls through, and we're talking about a different result."
Still it was another effective outing for the 6-foot-4 hurler, who said he wasn't dependent on previous knowledge of the Suns hitters dating back to his time with the Nats' Gulf Coast League and New York-Penn League affiliates in 2016.
"It's been a little bit of time since I last saw them in a game, so I couldn't remember too much," he said. "Even if I did, it's not like I watched our games last year and analyzed my team's hitters while they were playing. I wasn't looking at their weaknesses, thinking this would come."
Dunning learned of his trade to the White Sox after a prescient Playstation session with a couple friends who joked the would be sent there in a then-rumored deal for Chris Sale. On Dec. 7 with Dunning again playing video games, his brother told him he actually would be heading to Chicago -- this time for Eaton.
The right-hander said he doesn't harbor hurt feelings and he received plenty of well wishes from Nationals prospects and pitching coordinators alike on Wednesday.
"It definitely didn't feel like I was dealt away," he said. "With Washington, I was their first-round pick that they just took. It wasn't a case where they didn't want me. It's just that they had come so close in the playoffs last year, they're trying to build a winning team now. So they trade three prospects for Adam Eaton because he's someone they knew could help them. With the Nationals, I look at it like I was traded for a big leaguer, and I'm OK with that. With the White Sox, I think about it as a team that wanted me this bad."

Dunning could be on the move again soon. The University of Florida product was the only college pitcher taken among last year's 30 picks to not reach at least Class A Advanced, and with the way he's taken to the Sally League, he might be a candidate to move to Winston-Salem before long. He's trying to stay focused on his next outing with the Intimidators, though. Weather permitting, of course.
"I don't look at the numbers too much," he said. "I just try to do best for the team, first and foremost, and whatever comes of that is fine. I can only control what I can control, and hopefully in thinking that way, I can be good enough to help whoever I'm with."
Catcher Seby Zavala homered for the Intimidators' only run of the first game of the doubleheader. The Suns took Game 2, 4-1.