Lucas Dunn talks about first year of pro ball, getting set for second season

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) -Arnold alum Lucas Dunn is coming off his first year of professional baseball, and back home getting set for year two. I caught up with Dunn as he went through a pretty rigorous workout at a local gym called Fitness Junky. We began by chatting about what life was like going from college to pro ball last summer?

“Yeah it’s been a wild year.” Lucas told me. “Obviously, like the last year at Louisville, senior year. And then finally getting to hear my name called in the draft, which was super exciting. And then everything started happening really fast.

That’s right, after signing with the Padres organization and a month of Instructional ball in Arizona, Dunn was assigned to A-ball with the Lake Elsinore Storm. And he had some immediate success there!

“Yeah the first game, I think my first hit was a bases loaded triple. “ Lucas recalled. “We were playing like the Dodgers affiliate, which is our rival. It’s pretty good to get to go up there and do something good in my first day.

He ended the season with a .255 average in 149 at bats, two homers, 24 RBI. So the baseball side of season one was pretty good. The “life” side of things, Lucas says, also went well!

“Yes we play six days a week, and we get Monday’s off every week. So every Monday we try to slip down to some beach along the coast of California, Huntington or Newport. So that was pretty fun. Especially to get to know your new teammates and hang out with them off the field, that was nice. It’s actually funny, because I probably had some of the most fun like this year in professional baseball. You’re just kind of at the field all day, get to hang out with your teammates all day. And it’s a pretty relaxed schedule, but as soon as it’s game time, or as soon as you’re putting in work everybody can kind of flip that switch and get into work mode.”

So now Dunn into the off season work, a mix of strength and speed work.

“Everyone’s off season is kind of individualized for what they need most. Obviously for me coming from college, a little more mature, they kind of trust me to do my own thing. But they still send you, like workouts and schedules and things like that. But they check in weekly to see kind of what you did that week and to see how things are going.” >

Dunn will spend some weeks back in Arizona in what’s called a “strength camp” then come back home for a spell and then head back west for spring training in March.

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