Kansas City Royals: Hunter Dozier deserves to keep his job at first base

The Kansas City Royals should be seeing the return of Lucas Duda in the next few weeks. Duda’s bat has been missed, but the Royals shouldn’t let him block Hunter Dozier from playing at first base every day.

Before he hit the disabled list a month ago, Lucas Duda had actually been one of the better players for the Kansas City Royals this season. Of course that’s not saying much with how bad the Royals have been this year, but losing Duda certainly hurt. He was slashing .256/.317/.398 with four home runs and 19 RBI in 133 at bats before landing on the disabled list.

The upside to Duda’s DL stint, however, has been that former first round pick Hunter Dozier has finally gotten significant playing time. That hadn’t been the case for Dozier until now, as he didn’t get to play much in 2016 and was hurt throughout the 2017 season.

When Duda got injured, Dozier had to know this was likely his final chance to show he was worthy of being an every day starter and he’s done fine. Dozier is currently slashing .232/.296/.343 with two home runs and five RBI and deserves to keep his job at first base, even with Duda coming back soon.

Dozier’s numbers aren’t mind-blowing, no, but he looks pretty comfortable at the plate and is getting on base. He’s also shown that he can man first base, which is pretty important. He’s started all but three games at first base with the others coming in right field and as the designated hitter.

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With Duda set to begin his rehab assignment on Sunday, he should be returning to Kansas City in the next week or so. The Royals will have a tough decision to make as far as what to do regarding their first baseman. Will they put Duda back over there or will Dozier continue to see most of the starts at first base?

My solution: Dozier can still play first base on most days and Duda can be the designated hitter. If Duda does play first from time to time, Dozier can start in right field or he can DH that day, but he needs to be in the lineup every day, or at least close to every day.

The only argument to Duda not being put back at first base is that him being the every day designated hitter will hurt his trade value. If the Royals want to get anything in return for Duda, he’ll have to show he can still play decent defense. Otherwise, the Royals are eliminating all of the National League teams from trade talks there since there is no DH in that league.

Lucas Duda was a reliable bat for the Royals before getting hurt and they have a limited amount of time to showcase him to contending teams. If they want to get the most bang for their buck, it’d be easy to slot Duda back in at first.

The problem with that, however, is that it’s not worth giving up on Hunter Dozier as the first baseman. Maybe Dozier can play in right field, but first base has been the plan for him so far and he’s done all right over there. Why mess with a good thing?

What do you think Royals fans? Do you think Lucas Duda should go back to first base full time or does Hunter Dozier deserve to keep his job there?