MLB power rankings: Best player on each team

Minnesota Twins: 2B Brian Dozier

Dozier has become one of the best second basemen in all of baseball over the last few seasons, but he got to another level offensively in 2016. A second half power surge yielded 42 home runs, an American League record for a second baseman, with a career-high 99 RBI and a career-best .268 batting average. In three straight seasons, Dozier has scored over 100 runs from toward the top of the Twins’ lineup.

Dozier looked like clear trade bait last offseason, but the Twins new front office regime led by Derek Falvey and Thad Levine did not find a deal to their liking. Those trade rumors are sure to resurface down the road, with an affordable contract that runs through 2018, and the Twins may be sellers at the trade deadline this summer.

Not surprisingly, as measured by Wins Above Replacement at Baseball Reference, Dozier was a top-10 player in the American League last season with a 6.5 WAR.

FanGraphs Inside Edge defensive measurements cited him as slightly above average making plays considered “unlikely” in 2016, and in general Dozier is adequate defensively with an occasional play that lands on Baseball Tonight’s “Web Gems.”

Joe Mauer’s run as the best player on the Twins is long over, and Miguel Sano is not quite there yet while Byron Buxton has a lot of work to do at the plate. Dozier has become the best player on the team, through some down years in the standings, and belongs on this list.