(Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in November 2019. Justin Dunn pitched well in 2020, compiling a record of 4-1 with a 4.34 ERA over 45.2 IP. He struck out 38 batters.)
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When you’ve been doubted since age-14, you develop some thick skin.
Freeport-native Justin Dunn has developed that and then some over the years, as he carved a path for himself from the football-rich town of Freeport, NY all the way to his Major League debut with the Seattle Mariners on September 12, 2019.
When Justin was a freshman in high school, his parents made the decision to send him to rural Connecticut to The Gunnery School, a college-preparatory school for high school aged kids, which Justin described as essentially college for 14-year-olds. His father, who is the Director of Finance for the Department of Health, knew that his son had a special ability and wanted to make the most of it–even considered sending him to the Dominican Republic to play at 11-years-old.
“We chose to go there for three reasons 1) academics 2) baseball and 3) life,” he said. “I was always very mature for my age–by the time I was nine I was already pretty mature,” he added. By going there, it expedited the process that most adolescence go through. He noted due to this, he was home sick at 13 not in college.
Looking back on it now, he stated that he is “grateful for it” in regards to his time in Connecticut.
Boston College
Additionally, the baseball coach of The Gunnery School coaches in the Cape Cod League, which opened up numerous possibilities for playing at the next level.
Being a high-end player, he had narrowed down his choices to playing in the ACC or SEC. Unlike most players, he was only going to choose the school that was willing to let him be a two-way player.
“The schools that were willing to let me do both were the schools that I was going to be interested in,” he said. He noted that Missouri and Oregon State were two of those schools but they were two far from home.
“My mom would’ve never allowed that,” he said jokingly. So he chose to attend Boston Coston, which he said was the perfect fit of high-academics and a great baseball program. “Coach Trundy told me BC is where I need to be,” he added.
For a short time, though, it appeared he wouldn’t even step foot on campus.
After a dominating high school career as the captain of the team, he was selected in the 37th round of 2013 MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He called it a “very tough decision” but ultimately wound up choosing to attend college instead.
As a freshman, he struggled to acclimate to the college coach and wound up with an inflated ERA over 12.1 IP. He stated that he was not prepared to face grown men as a 6’0 160 lb freshman. “We faced some good competition at prep school, but not a lineup of grown men,” he said.
That season his team faced four future big leaguers including Trea Turner, Carlos Rodon and Luke Weaver.
Draft Year
Needless to say, Justin improved significantly over the next two seasons, culminating in becoming the ace of Boston College’s staff in 2016 which wound up winning 35 games including an appearance in the NCAA Super Regionals against Miami.
What happened the day before his start in the Super Regionals was the most important day of his life–the first round of the MLB Draft.
Leading up to it, Dunn’s name had appeared in the various iterations of mock drafts. As a player, he noted he tried to not pay much attention to it.
“Yeah it’s tough not to read the mock drafts but at the end of the day these are guys that have no decision-making power. The GMs making the decisions aren’t going to be publicizing who they’re drafting,” he said. He noted that what made it easier to avoid the outside noise was the fact that the team was so good that they had bigger things to worry about.
“Coach did such a good job of blocking out the noise,” he said. “All we could think about was Omaha, Omaha, Omaha so I was just trying to do my job,” he added.
While the dreams of Omaha did not come to fruition, getting picked in the first round did.
Surrounded by all of his friends and family down at a Miami sports bar, the family listened to the first round. He stated that he thought he was going No. 11 to Seattle but wound up falling to No. 19 with the hometown New York Mets.
“My phone was blowing up–it literally shut off from all the texts so I tried to just get some sleep that night. The next day I had an ESPN interview and then I had to pitch at night. We had the rain delay, then we lost to Miami so I went home for a couple days, took my physical, the MRI and signed my contract,” he added.
Life as a minor leaguer didn’t change much, and he continued to try and prove people wrong–even the so-called experts.
Shortly after the draft, ESPN prospect guru Keith Law posted an article in which he made some comments diminishing his command and his future outlook. Law has been wrong plenty in the past, but nobody wants to see that written about them.
“Yeah I saw it,” said Dunn. “Keith Law is such a well-respected guy. You try not to look at those things because if you just take care of what you can take care of then they won’t be saying that stuff but I just used it as fuel to the fire. I’ve always been doubted, since I was 14-years-old–told I wasn’t gonna be good enough so you just use it as fuel,” he added.
The Trade
Then came December 1, 2018.
After days of speculation, it was announced that the New York Mets had completed a blockbuster deal to acquire Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for OF Jay Bruce, RHP Anthony Swarzak, OF Jarred Kelenic, RHP Gerson Bautista and Dunn.
“It was a crazy situation,” he said. “I was down in Port St. Lucie when the rumor came out and I asked someone and they basically said it was just a rumor. But then my agent called and said ‘yeah it’s going down’, it was very dragged out and that’s what kind of sucked that it was a rollercoaster and my name was being thrown in & out. It was bittersweet to leave home. I kind of envisioned pitching at Citi Field so that was the toughest part. Getting traded for Cano–someone I grew up idolizing, that was very special to me. He was a childhood hero of mine. The opportunity to go to Seattle, that was unbeatable to me. Plus, in 2016 I thought I was going to get drafted by Seattle, so it came full circle,” he said.
‘The Show’
Things progressed quickly after that. He was promoted to the big leagues in September and allowed just two hits over his 6.2 IP. Now he entered his first off-season officially as a big leaguer.
“People look at me a little different,” he said. “But I try not to do anything different. My parents would never let that happen. I love to teach kids, and just be a normal person because that’s what I am.”
He added that another surreal moment was spending time with Mariners legend Felix Hernandez. “I learn a lot from him because he has his good days and his bad days too just like everyone else,” he said.
His goals for this off-season are to focus on his range-of-motion and just getting his arm in the best shape possible so he can enter camp ready to compete for a spot in the rotation.
With the Mariners in the midst of a rebuild, they are counting on the progress of the young, hard-thrower to potentially anchor their rotation for years to come in the AL West.
