Dunston’s Season of Promise Takes Shape

Shawon Dunston doesn’t have an answer for his slow start at bat this season, but the hits are beginning to fall and the Chicago Cubs’ shortstop is still looking to have a banner year.

“I don’t know,” said Dunston, who had great expectations after batting .250 last year with 17 home runs and 68 runs batted in. “The hits weren’t falling in. Now they’re falling all over the place.”

After struggling most of the season with an average that hovered around .170, Dunston collected 24 hits and batted safely in 12 of 15 games to boost his average to .250.

Dunston didn’t drive in a run in April, but he had 13 RBIs in May. And unlike many players, his fielding did not suffer as a result of his batting slump.

“A sign of maturity,” said Dunston, who the Cubs made their No. 1 pick in the June 1982 draft. “Things are coming easier now after having a year and a half under my belt.”

It wasn’t always so.

Dunston was Chicago’s opening-day shortstop in 1985, but was sent to the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate in Iowa after a slow start.

“There was a lot of pressure,” he recalled. “I was a rookie, everybody is a rookie sometime. But the Cubs had Larry Bowa who was telling everybody he could do a better job than I was doing. I had only 73 at-bats and I didn’t think it was fair or right for them to send me down.”

The move shook Dunston’s confidence, but he eventually came back.

“It was a hurt feeling,” he said. “If I had to do it over again, I would know how to act now. I’m very mature.”

One of Dunston’s problems was that the New York Mets selected pitcher Dwight Gooden in the same draft. He quickly rose to stardom, winning the Cy Young award and pitching the Mets to a championship.

Then came his recent drug problems.

“I didn’t know Gooden, but I had heard about him in high school,” said Dunston, who was born and reared in Brooklyn, N.Y. “I wouldn’t have minded going to New York because I lived there.

“It isn’t fair to compare pitchers with everyday players. Pitchers sometimes mature faster,” he said.

“I don’t envy anyone. I was drafted No. 1. He did what he had to do and I was happy for him. I just hope he gets over his problems.”

Dunston laughed when he was asked whether he had any advice for Ken Griffey Jr., the No. 1 draft choice of Seattle in this week’s amateur draft.

“None at all,” said Dunston. “His father is a major leaguer and a great player. His father will tell him how to deal with it. If he listens to his father, he’ll be a good player. No problem.”

Dunston has listened to a lot of instructors but credits coaches John Vukovich and Billy Williams and former Cubs Manager Jim Frey with his development.

“They all helped me a lot, especially Jim Frey,” said Dunston. “He kept telling me ‘Shawon, you can do it, you can do it.’ I think I’m doing it now that the hits are beginning to fall in.”

He acknowledges that fighting through this season’s early slump has been made easier by the team’s showing.

“We’re winning and that’s all that counts. If we had been losing, I’d have been doing a lot of worrying,” he said.

Dunston also knows his shortcomings at bat.

“I’m anxious, anxious, anxious,” he said. “Everybody wanted me to do everything right away. It didn’t work that way, but I’m lucky because I have great speed and a good arm and that helped a lot.”

Manager Gene Michael wasn’t disturbed over Dunston’s lack of production early in the season.

“He has settled down and played a lot better than he did last year defensively,” Michael said. “His work habits are better. He was down in the dumps for a while but he’s coming out of it now.

“He’s even getting a little dangerous at the plate,” Michael said. “Everybody knows he has ability and his potential physically is big. When he’s not jumping at the pitches up there, he’s OK. He just has to settle down.”