What to do with Dozier?


Hunter Dozier and the Royals agreed on a four year contract extension worth $25 million back in 2021 following a great start to Dozier’s career. The Royals decision to sign Dozier to the extension has proven to be mixed. Dozier has done fairly well offensively, but his defensive skills unfortunately hold him back from being a good allround player like Salvador Perez and Whit Merrifield. The 29-year old in recent years has played multiple positions for the Royals from third base to the outfield and even some first base as of late. Royals manager Mike Matheny continues to put Dozier into the starting nine on a daily basis, but who can blame him for doing so with Dozier's great offensive boost to the lineup. Unfortunately, the Royals have been punished by Dozier's lack of defensive skills, especially at first base. Before Dozier started playing first base on a daily basis, the team relied on veteran first baseman Carlos Santana to play first everyday before being traded to Seattle. Despite Santana's poor offensive numbers the past year and a half with the Royals, the 36-year old played a better first base than Dozier has, and it's not even close. Kansas City recently called up first baseman Vinny Pasquantino, but the Royals put Pasquantino in the designated hitter role in the lineup, leaving KC to continue to play Dozier at first base. As the trade deadline nears, the Royals will continue to play the 29-year old at first base; however, Dozier isn't the Royals only option at first base and neither is Pasquantino. The team has a good, but not great option on the bench to play first base more often in Ryan O'Hearn. O'Hearn has plenty of experience playing first base in the big leagues with 181 games under his belt. While putting O'Hearn in the lineup could remove some pop in the lineup, he could certainly be a platoon player with Pasquantino, thus removing Dozier at first base. Kansas City's lineup has some good hitters that have done well this season including Hunter Dozier and Andrew Benintendi. Unfortunately, the team's record has been dismal, leading the team to be sellers as the trade deadline nears. Benintendi's time in Kansas City will be coming to an end when he is traded in the next few weeks, and possibly Michael A Taylor will be gone as well, opening up two spots in the outfield. Fortunately for the Royals, Dozier has experience playing in the outfield. The 29-year old has played 30 games in the outfield in his career and hasn't looked too shabby. If the Royals put Dozier in the outfield, it would cover one of the two holes left by Benintendi and Taylor; and fortunately for the team, they have Kyle Isbel who could patrol center field. If traded, the Royals would definitely miss both Benintendi's and Taylor's defense, but this would prevent Dozier from seeing time at first base. Kansas City could throw Dozier into the outfield and allow Pasquantino and O'Hearn to cover first base until the team is ready to bring up Nick Pratto to the big show, pushing Pasquantino to designated hitter.

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