Royals glad to see Hunter Dozier’s bat come back to life after hand injury, early slump

Kansas City Royals leadoff hitter and offensive catalyst Whit Merrifield put the team’s offensive performance in perspective earlier this week after they scratched out a 3-2 win against the Los Angeles Angels.

The win came despite the bottom six hitters in the Royals’ lineup not having a hit and drawing one walk collectively.

“We talked about it in the locker room 10 minutes ago, we’ve got guys that are going to kick it in gear,” Merrifield said after that game. “When they do, it’s going to be a lot of fun out there playing.”

In the Royals’ two games before Saturday’s doubleheader against Toronto, both KC victories, one of the most encouraging signs has been third baseman Hunter Dozier appearing to have snapped out of his season-starting funk. Dozier had four hits, scored twice and drove in a run in those two games.

Dozier, who signed a four-year contract extension this spring training, started the season 0-for-16 while dealing with a hand injury that forced him to miss four of the team’s first nine games.

“You never want to start off the season going 0-for-whatever. It’s part of it,” Dozier said on Thursday. “I feel like I never really got into a routine or anything. I had the weird injury with the thumb Opening Day and took a couple days off, then we had the off day, rainout. Stuff like that.

“It was in the back of my mind. I tried not to think about it. I was less than 20 at-bats into the season, where hopefully I’ll get 600 at-bats. So I was trying to think of a bigger picture instead of just the little 0-for-15, 16, whatever it was.”

With Dozier batting in the bottom third of the order and producing, it gives the Royals’ lineup added heft.

After all, that’s 25-30 home run power in the No. 7 hole. In his most recent full season in 2019, Dozier batted .279 with a .522 slugging percentage, 26 homers and 84 RBIs.

The right thumb injury — it got so swollen after a seemingly mundane swing in the first game of the season that he couldn’t grip a ball — derailed him briefly after he’d finished spring training on a tear.

In the final six games of Cactus League play, Dozier hit three home runs and a double, and recorded six RBIs.

“This was probably my best spring training, for me personally, the way I was feeling at the plate, the way I was driving the ball to all parts of the field,” Dozier said. “Then for my hand to blow up, first game, it was just unfortunate.”

Dozier has been playing through the soreness in his hand, and it forced him out of the final game of the series in Cleveland. He also sat out the first game of the series against the Angels on Monday.

Dozier insists he has felt progressively better each series.

“For the first couple games I was trying to find something just to give me a little protection, wearing a batting glove with a little cast beneath it,” Dozier said. “I haven’t worn a batting glove or anything on my top hand for as long as I can remember. So that was really weird, and I just didn’t feel comfortable with it

“Then I tried to do the gel pad with tape over it. That was OK, but it really didn’t give me much protection, so even the ball I squared up to short in Chicago, that lit my hand up and I barreled that. So that wasn’t a good sign.”

In recent days, Dozier has worn protective thumb guard that has worked out well. He lined a single up the middle for his first hit of the season on Wednesday and added an infield single later in the game.

Royals manager Mike Matheny called in a “really good day for Doz.”

Thursday, Dozier lined a double down the left field line that two-hopped into the corner and drove in Jorge Soler. Dozier added another single later.

The Royals scored six runs and seven runs, respectively, in those two games.