Former All-Star second baseman Brian Dozier announced on Thursday that he is retiring after a nine-year career at Majors and at age 33.
A choice of the eighth round by the twins in 2009, Dozier was never considered a premium prospect, even within his own organization, reaching the top as the number 10 baseball America prospect of twins in the 2012 season. That did not stop the University product of Southern Mississippi to not only make it to the big leagues, but also to establish himself as one of the club’s best players in the past decade.
After an inauspicious debut in 2012, Dozier took on the job of second daily base at Target Field in 2013 and has steadily improved his plate production over the next few years. In a brief but excellent 2013-17 spike, Dozier was one of the best players in the game’s second overall base, with a 0.252 / 0.333 / 0.465 hit with 145 home runs, 81 stolen bases and solid defense. Along the way, he won a golden glove, made an All-Star team and took home MVP votes in three different seasons. Dozier was worth about 22 wins over substitution in that five-year period, according to the Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs versions of the metric.
Unfortunately for the twins and Dozier, he suffered a knee injury early in the 2018 campaign that seriously injured him at the base. He was traded to the Dodgers that summer and fought hard along the straight – hardly the platform any player would want on his first trip to a free agency.
Dozier signed a one-year, $ 9 million contract with the Nationals that winter and served as the club’s second main base for most of the year. In many ways, Dozier enjoyed a recovery campaign, posting an exit of .238 / .340 / .430 with 20 homers and 20 equal pairs. His playing time declined at the end of the year, however, as a successful commercial acquisition Asdrubal Cabrera saw more and more playing time on second base. Dozier maintained his place on the Nationals’ postseason list and was hailed as a vital presence at the club’s headquarters, but he accounted for just seven plaque appearances during the club’s World Series season.
Dozier signed a minor league contract with the Fathers before the 2020 season before requesting his release and showing up for a brief seven-game period with the Mets. This was the final act of Dozier’s career.
In all, Dozier will retire as a .244 / .325 / .441 hitter with 192 home runs, 231 doubles, 21 triples, 105 steals, 664 scheduled runs and 581 driven runs. He made an All-Star team, won a golden glove, and in his last full season took home a World Series ring for his role in the unlikely Cinderella race of the Nationals. Dozier released $ 30 million in salaries during a career that Baseball-Reference pegged at 22.7 WAR and FanGraphs valued at 23.7 WAR. Many congratulations to Dozier in the next chapter.