Cooper: Fans Need To Lay Off Dunn
(WSCR) Adam Dunn's American League-leading 117 strikeouts equate to 36.3 percent of all of his plate appearances. His .160 batting average is also the worst in the AL, and without knowing those stats you could probably tell he was struggling just from the crowd.
"If you walk down to the dugout and have a bad at-bat, and however many people, there's 40,000 people that are booing the [expletive] out of you every time you do it," White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper said on the Mully and Hanley Show. "You know, if somebody comes to your job, your work and harasses and boos. Now listen, you've got every right [to boo] as fans. You know, you come [to the game] and do what you want. But you know what, if you are fans, why don't you pull for him? You know, that'll help him come out of it."
LISTEN: Don Cooper On The Mully And Hanley Show
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As Cooper points out, hitting a baseball is widely considered one of the toughest things to do in any sport. The fact that Dunn hears a chorus of boos nearly every time he steps to the plate, and the again as he returns to the dugout after an out, according to Cooper, is only making things tougher.
"You have your right, you can do that," Cooper said of a fan's choice to boo. "But I tell you what, if I'm bringing my family to a ballgame, you ain't going to hear me boo in front of my kids, to show them, 'hey look, this is what you do.' You know what I mean?
"It's hard enough to go perform at the major league level doing any job, especially hitting. And to get booed every time you do something bad, my gosh, that's got to be hard."
