Maintaining approach key to Dunn's revival

CHICAGO -- Adam Dunn has become a first-person authority on the sub-.200 batting average, and of course not by his own volition.

Dunn hit .148 in April and .165 in May this season, yet from the start of Spring Training, he spoke of how good he felt at the plate. The challenge for Dunn was not to start drastically changing his approach or make changes just to make changes, and holding steady has paid dividends.

Over his last 49 games entering Tuesday night, Dunn was hitting .306 with 13 homers and 36 RBIs. He had a .415 on-base percentage and a .571 slugging percentage since June 8 and had reached base safely seven times in his last two games.

"People always say, 'This game, it's 90 percent mental,'" Dunn said. "It's probably not that much, but it's a lot. That's the part of it. You struggle for so long, and the next thing you know, something has to be wrong.

"Well, not really. Mechanically, things don't have to be wrong. I can probably speak about that better than a lot of people because I've struggled for months at a time and felt good. So try to stay with it. It's just tough. It's a tough situation."

This resurgence has caused media speculation that Dunn -- who is owed $15 million in 2014, the final year of his four-year deal -- could be moved to a contender in August, during the waiver trade period. Dunn told MLB.com a few weeks ago that he wants to win in Chicago, but doesn't worry about things he can't control.