How good has Brian Dozier been over the last calendar year? Answer- Really Good!

[jokin]

Yesterday is the anniversary of when Brian Dozier flipped the switch in 2013 and began the amazing transformation to elite-level 2nd Baseman. How good has he become? Look below- he's just a shade below Robbie Cano in WAR @ 5.6 to 5.4, with Matt Carpenter #1 @ 6.1.

 

And I'm guessing he's still largely a secret amid baseball professionals around the league as well as the typical fan. Guys like Patrick Reusse give Dozier a low mid-season grade, probably because they stop digging around the numbers once they see his batting average.

 

And the counting stats for Dozier relative to his 2nd Base peer group are quite impressive, as well. For one, his bulldogged durability, only Carpenter has "played" all 162 games- Dozier sits at 161 GP. Dozier is easily #1 in HRs with 29, first in XBH with 71, second in Runs (104), second in RBI (80), second in BB (79), 4th in SB (22), 5th in 2Bs with 40. As his big power numbers suggest, he's also first in ISO (.208).

 

 

 

 

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[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray]Team[/TH]

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[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]R[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]RBI[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]SB[/TH]

[TH=class: grid_line_breakh rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]BB%[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]K%[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]ISO[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]BABIP[/TH]

[TH=class: grid_line_breakh rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]AVG[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]OBP[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]SLG[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]wOBA[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]wRC+[/TH]

[TH=class: grid_line_breakh rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]BsR[/TH]

[TH=class: grid_line_breakh rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]Off[/TH]

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[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]WAR[/TH]

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[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]1[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular]Matt Carpenter[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular][/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]162[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]741[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]8[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]118[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]77[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]4[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_break, align: right]10.8[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]15.7[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right].140[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right].354[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_break, align: right].303[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right].382[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right].443[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right].363[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right][/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_break, align: right]4.0[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_break, align: right]32.6[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]1.6[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]6.1[/TD]

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[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]2[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular]Robinson Cano[/TD]

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[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]157[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]671[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]14[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]79[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]100[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]9[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_break, align: right]9.4[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]10.6[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right].148[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right].362[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_break, align: right].339[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right].401[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right].487[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right].380[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right][/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_break, align: right]-0.5[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_break, align: right]30.8[/TD]

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[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]5.6[/TD]

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[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]3[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular]Brian Dozier[/TD]

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[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]726[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]29[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]104[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]82[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]22[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_break, align: right]10.9[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]18.5[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right].208[/TD]

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[TD=class: grid_line_break, align: right].249[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right].338[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right].457[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right].349[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right][/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_break, align: right]7.3[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_break, align: right]25.1[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]1.4[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]5.4[/TD]

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[SydneyTwinsFan]

And he's done all that with a BABIP 80-90 pts lower than Carpenter and Cano

[Riverbrian]

His combination of power speed and defense has been crowd pleasing.

 

I don't think I'd trade him for any 2B right now.

[jokin]

His combination of power speed and defense has been crowd pleasing.

 

I don't think I'd trade him for any 2B right now.

 

Agreed. FWIW, he currently ranks #1 in fWAR among 2nd Basemen (2.6), slightly ahead of Uttley- he's literally improving, and lapping the peer group field, right before our eyes. I think back to 2 years ago when he debuted as a SS, teased us for about a month with small glimpses of what he might be capable of, and then completely wilted. Upon his return last year, I figured the Twins would be fortunate to get a Punto-like career from Dozier, it just goes to show it's not always best to jump to what seems at the time to be logical conclusions.

[bulldozier14]

Agreed. FWIW, he currently ranks #1 in fWAR among 2nd Basemen (2.6), slightly ahead of Uttley- he's literally improving, and lapping the peer group field, right before our eyes. I think back to 2 years ago when he debuted as a SS, teased us for about a month with small glimpses of what he might be capable of, and then completely wilted. Upon his return last year, I figured the Twins would be fortunate to get a Punto-like career from Dozier, it just goes to show it's not always best to jump to what seems at the time to be logical conclusions.

 

It's also a great example of why guys need to play everyday and get consistent at-bats if they project to be a decent player in the majors. He was bad for the first part of last year, even while playing everyday. Guys need a chance to work through struggles, adjust and settle in to the speed and tendencies of these players who are the best in the world at what they do.

 

This goes for guys like Hicks and Parmalee and especially for guys like Pinto and Santana.

[jokin]

And he's done all that with a BABIP 80-90 pts lower than Carpenter and Cano

 

Good call, STF. But I will say that a healthy chunk of that BABIP differential is the fact that Dozier has hit 29 HRs, versus only 14 for Cano and 8 for Carpenter. Having said that though, Brian had a high minor league BABIP, in the .333 range. And he's currently BABIPing 21 points below his major league BABIP coming into 2014, so there seems to be definitely room for his OBP and BA numbers to creep up quite a bit more with some better-placed batted balls. He just seems to have "the look" at the plate of a guy that can hit .270-.280 and OBP ~100 points higher than that.

[stringer bell]

I don't think his background says a lot about who he is. He is a changed player in the last year.

[jokin]

I don't think his background says a lot about who he is. He is a changed player in the last year.

 

What background is this, you say?