March 21, 2021

Kansas City Royals corner infielder Hunter Dozier had a decent offensive showing in 2020, posting a 104 wRC+ and a career-high 14.5% walk rate that helped to lift his OBP. However, the power surge we saw in 2019 never replicated itself in the shortened season, as Dozier slugged just .392 in 2020 compared to .522 two seasons ago. He did contract COVID-19 towards the beginning of the season, which led to a late start and likely factored into the low power output. His hard-hit rate dropped to 30% after coming in right around 45% over nearly 1,000 combined plate appearances between 2018-19. If that metric corrects itself over the course of a more normal 2021, Dozier could easily find himself producing a homer total closer to his mark of 26 in 2019. Dozier bounced primarily between first base and right field in 2020 after playing 100 games at third in 2019. With the arrival of Carlos Santana and the departure of Maikel Franco this offseason, he'll likely shift back to the left side of the infield in 2021. Kansas City isn't bursting with outfield depth, though, so it stands to reason that Dozier will maintain multi-position eligibility as long as he continues to see the occasional start in right field. Dozier will likely slot in somewhere among the first five hitters in a sneaky-good top of the Kansas City order that includes Santana, Jorge Soler, and Whit Merrifield. The Royals clearly still believe in Dozier as they inked him to a four-year, $25 million extension in early March. They're writing off 2020 as an aberration and are counting on a bounce-back in the power department, which would make Dozier a strong candidate to outperform his current ADP of 231.69.--Chris O'Reilly