Kansas City Royals: 5 Hopes for the Royals 2019 Season

Hope 2: Hunter Dozier picks up where he left off

We all have an opinion as to what type of player Hunter Dozier is going to be or already is. While he didn’t give the Kansas City Royals much to be excited about after joining the Royals to start the year, he ended the year with a lot of promise.

Posting a less than desired .209/.269/.331 over the first 51 games of the season, Dozier brought some serious doubt to the minds of fans. However, he finished the year better. While I’m using that loosely, hitting .247/.287/.453 the final 51 games of the year is an improvement.

Once Mike Moustakas was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers and Dozier moved to third base, a different player seemed to appear at the plate. He slowly became more confident at the plate and his defense seemed to increase. His power drastically increased, hitting 12 extra-base hits in the first half and then 22 extra-base hits during the second half, Dozier started producing numbers the organization hoped for after his 2016 season when he hit .296/.366/.533 with 41 doubles and 23 home runs.

Dozier doesn’t need to hit as he did in 2016. However, if he could increase his 2018 second half numbers just a little, hitting .255-.260, and adding power to his at-bats, then the desire to get a third baseman quickly will start to dissipate. This year seems to be very much a “make or break” year for Dozier on the Royals.