Blake William Dunn (born September 5, 1998) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

for the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2024.

Early life and amateur career

Dunn attended Saugatuck High School in

Saugatuck, Michigan Saugatuck ( ) is a city in Allegan County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 865 at the 2020 census. The city is within Saugatuck Township, but is administratively autonomous. Originally a lumber town and port, Saugatuck, alo ...

. He enrolled at

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a Public university, public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. B ...

and played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the

Western Michigan Broncos The Western Michigan Broncos are a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I program representing Western Michigan University (WMU) in college athletics. They compete in the Mid-American Conference in men's coll ...

for four seasons. He was named first team All-

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

(MAC) as a sophomore after hitting .374 with five home runs, nine doubles, two triples, and 30 stolen bases. In 2019, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Falmouth Commodores The Falmouth Commodores are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Falmouth, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Commodores play their home games at Arnie All ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

. Dunn batted .288 with four doubles, two home runs, and 11 stolen bases in 15 games during his junior season before it was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic. Dunn batted .305 as a senior.

Professional career

The

selected Dunn in the 15th round of the 2021 MLB draft. After signing with the team he was assigned to the

Rookie-level Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National L ...

Arizona Complex League Reds before being promoted to the

Daytona Tortugas The Daytona Tortugas are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Minor League Baseball#Single-A, Single-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Daytona Beach, Florida, and play their home games at Jackie R ...

of Low-A Southeast. Dunn hit .286 over 11 total minor league games. He returned to Daytona in 2021, but missed most of the season due to a shoulder injury and finished the season with a .290 batting average in 33 games olayed. Dunn was assigned to the

High-A High-A, officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing, is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A and D ...

Dayton Dragons The Dayton Dragons are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Dayton, Ohio, and play their home games at Day Air Ballpark. In 2011, they broke the record for most ...

to begin the 2023 season. He was promoted to the Double-A

Chattanooga Lookouts The Chattanooga Lookouts are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and are named for nearby Lookout Mountain. The team plays its home g ...

after hitting .276 with eight home runs and 19 stolen bases over 47 games played. Dunn began the 2024 season with the Triple–A

Louisville Bats The Louisville Bats are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Louisville, Kentucky, and are named in dual reference to the bat, wi ...

, hitting .223/.348/.378 with four home runs, 22 RBI, and nine stolen bases across 44 games. On June 4, 2024, Dunn was selected to the

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

and promoted to the major leagues for the first time. Dunn made his MLB Debut the same day.

References

External links

Western Michigan Broncos bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, Blake 1998 births Living people Arizona Complex League Reds players Baseball players from Michigan Chattanooga Lookouts players Cincinnati Reds players Dayton Dragons players Daytona Tortugas players Falmouth Commodores players Louisville Bats players Major League Baseball outfielders Muskegon Clippers players Sportspeople from Holland, Michigan Western Michigan Broncos baseball players