Hunter William Dozier (born August 22, 1991) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

for the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). The Royals selected Dozier eighth overall in the first round of the

2013 MLB draft The 2013 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2013. The first two rounds were broadcast from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. Each team received one selection per round, going in ...

after he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

at Stephen F. Austin State University. He made his MLB debut in 2016.

Amateur career

Dozier attended

Denton High School Denton High School is a public high school located in the city of Denton, Texas and classified as a 5A school by the UIL. It is a part of the Denton Independent School District located in central Denton County and was the original high schoo ...

Denton, Texas Denton is a city in and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, United States. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the 27th-most populous city in Texas, the 197th-most populous city in the United States, and the 12th-most populous ...

, where he played for the school's

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

teams; Dozier played shortstop for the baseball team and quarterback in football. His football career was hampered by a broken collarbone in his junior year. He focused on baseball in his senior year of high school having intention to play college baseball. Dozier went on to Stephen F. Austin State University, where he played

for the

Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks baseball The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks baseball team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, United States. The team is a member of the Western Athletic Conference, which is part of the Na ...

team. In 2013, he was named the

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it pa ...

Player of the Year and a finalist for the

Brooks Wallace Award The Brooks Wallace Award is an award given by the College Baseball Foundation (CBF) to the best college baseball shortstop of the year. The award has been given annually since 2004. Until 2008 the award was presented to the nation's most outstandi ...

, given annually to the best shortstop in college baseball.

Professional career

The Royals selected Dozier with the eighth overall selection in the

2013 Major League Baseball draft The 2013 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2013. The first two rounds were broadcast from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. Each team received one selection per round, going in ...

. Dozier signed with the Royals for a $2.2 million

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

, below the slot value of $3,117,800 allotted for the pick. He reported to the Royals'

Arizona League The Arizona Complex League (ACL) is a rookie-level Minor League Baseball league that operates in and around Phoenix, Arizona, since 1988. Prior to 2021, it was known as the Arizona League (AZL). Along with the Florida Complex League (FCL), it f ...

complex before joining the

Idaho Falls Chukars The Idaho Falls Chukars are an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB) but is an MLB Partner League. They are located in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and play their home games at Melaleuca ...

of the Rookie-level Pioneer League. He was promoted to the

Lexington Legends The Lexington Legends are an American professional baseball team based in Lexington, Kentucky. They are a member of the South Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, a "partner league" of Major League Baseball. The Legends have ...

of the Class A

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

in August. In 69 games between Idaho Falls and Lexington, he batted .308 with seven home runs and 52 RBIs. Dozier began the 2014 season with the

Wilmington Blue Rocks The Wilmington Blue Rocks are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Wilmington, Delaware, and play their home games at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium. ...

of the

Class A-Advanced High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...

. On June 18, the Royals promoted him to the

Northwest Arkansas Naturals The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are a Minor League Baseball team based in Springdale, Arkansas, Springdale, Arkansas. The team is a member of the Texas League, and serves as the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. The ...

of the

Class AA Double-A (officially Class AA) is the second-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946, below only Triple-A. There are currently 30 teams classified at the Double-A level, one for each team in Major League ...

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

. In 130 games between the two clubs he hit .251 with eight home runs and 60 RBIs. Dozier spent the 2015 season with Northwest Arkansas, compiling a .213 batting average with 12 home runs and 53 RBIs in 128 games.. He returned there to begin the 2016 season before receiving a promotion to the

Omaha Storm Chasers The Omaha Storm Chasers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. They are located in Papillion, Nebraska, a suburb southwest of Omaha, and play their home games at Wer ...

of the

Class AAA Triple-A (officially Class AAA) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL ...

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

in May. Dozier appeared in the 2016

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National League ...

. In 129 games between Northwest Arkansas and Omaha, he

slashed ''Slashed'' is a low budget independent horror film, financed and directed by Ash and written by Jed Shepherd.

.296/.366/.533 with 23 home runs and 75 RBIs. Hunter Dozier 2019 (2)

The Royals promoted Dozier to the major leagues on September 2, 2016. He made his major league debut on September 12. He recorded his first major league hit on September 16. Dozier began the 2017 season with Omaha. He missed the beginning of the season with a strained oblique muscle, and after playing in ten games, broke the

hamate bone The hamate bone (from Latin hamatus, "hooked"), or unciform bone (from Latin ''uncus'', "hook"), Latin os hamatum and occasionally abbreviated as just hamatum, is a bone in the human wrist readily distinguishable by its wedge shape and a hook-l ...

in his wrist in June. He played a total of 33 games in the minor league regular season, and was not called up to the major leagues as a part of their

September call-ups A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, and ...

. After the regular season, he played for the

Naranjeros de Hermosillo The Naranjeros de Hermosillo ( en, Hermosillo Orange Growers) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican Pacific League based in Hermosillo, Sonora. The Naranjeros are one of the most successful teams in the league with 16 titles and they we ...

in the

Mexican Pacific League The Mexican Pacific League (), known as Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico for sponsorship reasons or simply LMP for its acronym in Spanish, is a professional baseball winter league based in Northern Mexico. The ten-team regular season schedule run ...

. Dozier began 2018 with Omaha and was recalled by Kansas City on May 14. In 2019, Dozier hit .279 with 26 home runs and 84 RBI in 139 games. On July 22, 2020, it was announced that Dozier had tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Overall with the 2020 Kansas City Royals, Dozier batted .228 with six home runs and 12 RBIs in 44 games. On February 28, 2021, Dozier and the Royals agreed to a four-year, $25 million contract extension with a $10 million option for the 2025 season. On May 14, 2021, Dozier was involved in a collision with

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

first basemen José Abreu after Dozier hit a popup and collided with Abreu along the first base line. Both Dozier and Abreu left the game, and while Abreu returned to play the next day, Dozier was placed on the seven-day injured list. Dozier was one of ten Royals placed on the restricted list prior to a four-day road trip to play the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

in July 2022 because he was not vaccinated against COVID-19. Dozier said, "me personally, I don’t do any vaccines. I live a healthy lifestyle. I eat healthy, I work out. I want my body to naturally fight stuff off. I’m not against vaccines, so it’s just a personal preference. I’m not judging anyone who wanted to get it or who didn’t want to get it."

Personal life

Dozier and his wife, Amanda, have three children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dozier, Hunter 1991 births Living people People from Wichita Falls, Texas Sportspeople from Denton, Texas Baseball players from Texas All-American college baseball players Major League Baseball third basemen Major League Baseball outfielders Kansas City Royals players Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks baseball players Idaho Falls Chukars players Lexington Legends players Wilmington Blue Rocks players Northwest Arkansas Naturals players Peoria Javelinas players Omaha Storm Chasers players Naranjeros de Hermosillo players American expatriate baseball players in Mexico