Oliver Dunn Has All the Bat (and Foot) Speed He Needs. He's Focused on What's Next.

Oliver Dunn doesn't train for bat speed. That's not because he fails to understand its immense benefits, though. It's just a box he's already checked.

"I have in the past," when asked in the Brewers clubhouse at spring training in Maryvale whether he uses the feedback tools provided by high-tech training aids to maximize his swing speed. "Now, I’m not trying to go get more. Now it’s the variability of it, and being able to cover more different zones. It was the focus at times, but not anymore."

That's because, even in a first big-league season shortened by struggles at the plate and then an injury, Dunn demonstrated that he doesn't need any more than the bat speed he's already learned to generate. Along with Garrett Mitchell and William Contreras, he makes up part of the exceptional bat speed constituency within the Brewers' lineup—assuming he wins a job there, which is not yet safe to do.

What Dunn said is true. His game is now much more dependent on the variability of his swing than on the sheer velocity he can achieve. Comparing him to Contreras (and even to Mitchell, who's hardly considered a bastion of the adaptable swing), it's easy to see why Dunn ran into trouble last year, in his brief stint with the team. He only had one gear. He couldn't manipulate the bat as deftly as many of his peers, so if his swing wasn't perfectly timed, it would end up as a miss, or a very poor mishit.

Specifically, Dunn struggled mightily when pitchers worked down and in on him. It was a hole in his swing, and the league quickly identified and attacked it, relentlessly. It was the most frequent pitch location against him, and he was helpless with it. He whiffed often; rarely hit the ball hard when he managed to make contact; and frequently hit it right into the ground if he did get the barrel to it.

The low-and-in pitch is the bread-and-butter of many lefty hitters with power, but Dunn said not hitting it well wasn't his primary concern. Instead, it was a frustrating symptom of an even more confounding problem: the swing that brought him such great success in 2023 and prompted the Brewers to trade for him that winter was never quite right in 2024.

"That was just a sign of other things that needed to be adjusted, too," Dunn said. "That specific pitch isn’t something I try to gear toward, but having better swing planes will allow me to hit that pitch better, also. Looking for more coverage has absolutely been where the most focus has been, so I have made adjustments that’ll help me on that pitch, and other ones, too."

It's that combination of thoughtful and determined desire to improve and impressive raw talent that the Brewers hope will yield better results for the infielder in 2025. He seemed to get things figured out after being optioned to Triple-A Nashville—only to have his season truncated abruptly by a back strain that lingered the rest of the year. He wasn't especially good in his brief stint in the Dominican Winter League, either.

Some of this can't be helped. Pitchers at the highest level of professional baseball can consistently do things with the ball that the guys in Triple A can't. Dunn knows he'll have to adjust his approach, as much as his actual swing, to beat pitchers who execute so well. He did some of that even last season, and hopes to carry it forward in 2025.

"Pitchers just get better at getting their pitches where they want them. At lower levels—not all the time, but guys will throw breaking balls [just] to throw breaking balls," Dunn said. "Guys in the big leagues will throw it with more conviction, know where they want it, miss on the side they want to miss on, versus back toward the middle."

Still, on balance, Dunn enters this season feeling good. He's healthy, and he believes tweaks to his swing have unlocked more coverage of the zone for him. He's looked superb in early Cactus League play, not only posting an OPS north of 1.000 through Saturday's game but swinging well and liking his own swing decisions. He also has the comfort of knowing what position he's going to play, wherever he goes—something he attained after coming to camp last year branded as a more versatile player than he might have felt.

Dunn spent lots of time at second base and in the outfield during his time in the Yankees system. With the Phillies organization in 2023, he mostly played the keystone. There was a little bit of shortstop and a little bit of third mixed in, but only when he got to Maryvale in the spring and things played out to open things up at the hot corner did he become a regular at a position for which he's always felt special affinity.

"[That] developed in camp," Dunn said of the shift. "Kind of something that happened naturally; just a position that I liked and fit well at, and it lined up well for our infield."

There was no culture shock involved. For Dunn, the feel wasn't radically different; he just needed to adapt to the ball getting to him faster and to the way range works based on being so much closer to the batter.

"I mean, it’s definitely a different position than second," he said. "And I think it’s just a reps thing: just continue to hammer in reps and get in-game reps, and we have a great infield staff that helps with any of the questions that arise about how to play this ball or that ball."

The team is ecstatic with the way he's managed that transition. He makes plays with confidence and rhythm, as though third was the spot for which he was always destined. Dunn takes pride in the change and the way he's managed it, and it might be the thing that secures his place on the team.

Baserunning, on the other hand, remains an issue. As the lead runner in a first-and-third situation Saturday, Dunn got hung up and hesitated, contributing to a caught stealing for Jackson Chourio. He had just done a fine job going first to third on a single by Chourio, and he's been a fine basestealer in the minors, but his sneaky speed doesn't translate as cleanly to real value on the bases as one might hope.

All the pieces of a very good player are there in Dunn. He hasn't yet been able to convert all those skills and tools into plus production, but his offseason work was aimed at that very thing. If he stays healthy, he's likely to get a shot, at least, to prove that that work has turned him from an intriguing late bloomer with big flaws into a meaningful contributor.