Brian Dozier’s MRI comes back negative
By Bryan Holmes
Minnesota Twins All-Star second baseman was sent for an MRI after describing heaviness in his right knee. The MRI results came back negative.
Minnesota Twins second baseman Brian Dozier described “heaviness” in his knee when trying to beat out a groundball on Friday night leading to him sitting out of the game on Saturday afternoon against the Chicago White Sox.
Though Dozier cited beating out the groundball when he felt the heaviness in the knee, that may not be when he injured his knee. Earlier in the game on Friday night Dozier made a couple diving defensive plays, most notably a highlight play on Todd Frazier on a ball back up the middle. Further Dozier banged up his knee sliding head first into third base trying to stretch a double into a triple.
Saturday morning Dozier was sent for a MRI on his right knee. The results came back negative. “There’s just some swelling in there,” Dozier said. “But no (structural) damage or anything, which is a relief.”
A relief is an understatement seeing as Dozier was the main source of power for the Twins a year ago. Dozier racked up 42 home runs in the 2016 campaign which set a record for American League second baseman. Dozier finished 13th in AL MVP voting last season while boasting a 4.2 WWA. WWA is a statistical computation that computes the number of wins that a player generates for a team compared to comparable average players at that same position.
Eduardo Escobar started in place of Dozier on Saturday afternoon and went 1-3 with a walk. Dozier had a modest start to the season hitting .275 through 10 games with one home run and five stolen bases.
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Meanwhile, the Minnesota Twins are off to a solid start to the season posting a 7-4 record and tied for first in the AL Central. It may be unrealistic to expect them to stay atop the division for much longer, especially if knee problems persist for their star second baseman.