If Brian Dozier ever figures it out at the plate for a full six months, he’s going to push the power limits further than any Twins player that’s gone before him.
Dozier has the potential to break Harmon Killebrew’s franchise record of 49 homers in 1969. Had he not stunk it up in April and May last season, he probably would’ve hit 50 bombs. Instead, he had a pathetic five homers at the end of May before turning on the jets to finish third in the league with 42 bombs.
It’s more of the same this year for Dozier.
.@BrianDozier now has 9 homers, 21 RBI and 18 runs scored in 23 games since the All-Star Break. #DozierGoesDeep #MNTwins #BorderBattle pic.twitter.com/heTf0M1Apq
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) August 10, 2017
With five homers in his last six games, he appears to be tracking just like he did last season when he finished with 23 homers over the final two months.
Dozier’s home runs by month this year and last year:
At the end of July last year Dozier had 19 homers. This year, he had 17 when the calendar flipped to August. If he duplicates his power numbers from August and September of last year he’ll finish with 40 dingers by the end of the season.
That could prove huge for the Twins as they try to keep pace in the playoff race over the final 50 games of the season.
Dozier still has to prove he can stay hot, but his play of late is exactly what Twins Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey was basically begging for a month ago on the One Hunnit Podcast.
“I think we’ll take that breakout again in the second half this year,” Falvey said of Dozier. “It was quite a year for him last year. He’s somebody that can run really hot when he’s going good. We’ve seen some stretches this year where he’s started to settle in and I’m hopeful that we’ll see a lot more of that as we go forward this second half.”
