Twins' Brian Dozier fixes his flaws, becomes an asset again

Brian Dozier received the first curtain call of his baseball career Saturday. He froze in the dugout, briefly, until Twins manager Paul Molitor told him to get out there and wave to the crowd.

"I was kind of late to it because I didn't know what to do," Dozier said.

Seems ironic because three months ago, Dozier looked similarly lost in the batter's box, to the degree that people wondered if it was nearing curtain time on his tenure in a Twins uniform.

Dozier's polar turnaround counts as one positive from this dreadful season. He ranks among the best hitters in Major League Baseball since June after finally committing to changes that have put him on track for career highs in just about every offensive category despite his abysmal start.

Dozier's season actually feels like two distinct segments: Two months of failure, 2 ½ months of sizzle.

He has smacked a league-best 19 home runs since June 19, hit safely in 22 of 23 games and has raised his batting average nearly 70 points since late May.

The simplest explanation is that he matured as a hitter.

Dozier admits that he became sidetracked in his approach. Specifically, he tried to hit home runs every at-bat and began pressing as his team's season went into a death spiral.

As a vocal leader and All-Star, he felt responsible for saving his team from despair. Or, in his words, "hit a three-run homer with nobody on base."

"You create bad habits," he said.

His batting average dipped to .199 in late May when he was benched for two games and former General Manager Terry Ryan declared publicly that the team needed to "fix Brian Dozier."

Outside chatter percolated that Dozier deserved a demotion to Rochester and possibly an exit from the organization to clear room for top prospect Jorge Polanco.

Dozier said he never worried about his standing inside the organization, but he heard those whispers.

"I think that's a way to create buzz, or maybe to light some fire under my rear end," he said. "But at the same time, I know internally that they expect a lot of things out of me."

He says his resurgence feels bittersweet. He's happy that he righted himself but still ticked that his struggles cost the team dearly on the front end.

"As a team we expected to be so good," he said, "and I know I wasn't getting the job done."

Some contend the Twins still should trade Dozier, albeit for different reasons. Now, it's because he's on fire and the team would be selling high with the hope of upgrading the pitching staff.

Know what else the Twins need? Good players. And Dozier is their best player, team leader and most marketable player, so why would they want to unload that? That would be foolish.

Dozier's career has been marked by alternating slumps and hot stretches that sometimes span months. Every player encounters rough patches, but Dozier has made substantive changes that he hopes will minimize his lulls.

He studies more video pregame of the starting pitcher in search of tendencies and has changed his approach in batting practice. He tries to hit balls off the center field wall, rather than "see how far you can hit it to left," he said.

The biggest thing, though, is that he trained himself to "stay behind the ball." In layman's terms, he stopped trying to jerk the ball 450 feet to left field every time.

Dozier wants to make clear that he's not suggesting he has everything figured out as a hitter. But he knows what doesn't work over the long haul.

"To become a complete hitter, I finally realized and got over the hump of taking what the game is giving," he said. "If the game is giving you a single, take a single instead of trying to do too much every single pitch."

He recites a saying that encapsulates his new approach: Home runs aren't hit, they're thrown. He's better at reacting to pitches instead of having a predetermined mind-set to swing out of his cleats before the pitch is even thrown.

"If he gives you a hanging breaking ball, that's the pitch you punish," he said. "But if he paints it on the black, then you try and shoot it the other way and get a single."

To the end, Dozier already has more hits to right field than any previous season. His strikeouts have decreased significantly. And his .266 average is 22 points higher than his career best.

His power hasn't suffered, either. He's on pace for career highs in home runs and slugging percentage.

It's unfortunate that it took until June before Dozier started to contribute offensively because the season was a lost cause by then. But his personal narrative has changed substantially.

Brian Dozier looks fixed. Credit him for that.

Chip Scoggins • chip.scoggins@startribune.com