Kansas City Royals: How Hunter Dozier’s absence affects start of season

Hunter Dozier is the eighth and latest member of the Kansas City Royals to test positive for COVID-19 and will miss the start of the season.

Yet another member of the Kansas City Royals has tested positive for COVID-19 and this time, it’s Hunter Dozier, who mentioned in a statement that he had been experiencing symptoms.

So far, seven other Royals have tested positive including Nick Dini, Cam Gallagher, Jakob Junis, Brad Keller, Ryan O’Hearn, Salvador Perez, and Daniel Tillo. O’Hearn was the only position player non-catcher to have tested positive up to this point, but now Dozier joins him.

Perez is already back with the team while Junis and Keller are cleared to return, but won’t be ready for Opening Day. The rest are still waiting to get the all-clear before they can rejoin the team.

So, what happens in right field now for the Kansas City Royals?

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Dozier was going to be starting right fielder and that’s obviously not going to be able to happen now, at least not in the first week of the season.

Alex Gordon will stay in left field and Whit Merrifield will stay in center field, as they both should. This now gives Bubba Starling and Brett Phillips a chance to prove they’re worth keeping around and it also opens things up for newly acquired Franchy Cordero, who was brought in from the Padres in a trade last week.

The Royals could also opt to use Jorge Soler in right field, which is where he spent a lot of time prior to being used more as a designated hitter. Soler came into his own as the predominant designated hitter, so it’d be wise for the Royals to keep him there.

Nick Heath is an option as well, but he spent the least amount of time in right field last season, instead mostly manning center field.

The Royals have always had problems finding a mainstay in right field and Hunter Dozier was only moved out there because they signed Maikel Franco to be their every day third baseman this year.

Dozier will have to quarantine and then have to test negative twice as well as not have a fever for three days and be cleared by a doctor before he can rejoin the Royals. To this point, it doesn’t seem like any of these positive tests have been serious, which is the best we can hope for.

Still – It feels like this is going to continue to hit the team.