Brian Dozier’s baseball story is a tale of one golf swing fulfilling a dream from youth.
“When I was in the second grade, I filled out a questionnaire about what I wanted to do when I grew up,” Dozier said. He answered that he wanted to be the Atlanta Braves’ shortstop.
Dozier grew up in the small community of Fulton with his parents Mike and Jan, brother Clay, and sister Leigh Anne. Dozier played all the high school sports but was drawn to baseball and was a four-year starter for Coach Brian Long at Itawamba Agricultural High School.
Dozier was a two-time All-State shortstop who wanted to play college baseball, but neither Ole Miss nor Mississippi State showed much interest.
The summer before Dozier’s senior year, the Clarion Ledger Dandy Dozen selection was playing for a Mississippi team coached by Stacy Hester.
“We were playing in Oklahoma, and I really made some spectacular defensive plays at short. USM coaches were in attendance and invited me to visit Hattiesburg. We visited and fell in love with the school and the area,”
said the former high school quarterback.
Dozier signed with The University of Southern Mississippi, and his career was an overwhelming success. He started all but two games in his first three seasons at USM, but a broken collarbone late in his senior season ended a 131-game starting streak. Despite the disappointment, Dozier still inspired the Golden Eagles to their first and only College World Series. Dozier was a College Freshman All-American and was named to three All-Regional teams. Former USM coach Corky Palmer stated after Dozier’s career, “He is the best defensive player I have ever coached.”
The Minnesota Twins drafted Dozier in the eighth round of the 2009 MLB draft. Dozier learned the mental part of the game and did the right things on and off the field to move up to the Twins’ major league club. He learned to speak Spanish as well as to play the guitar and piano along his baseball journey.
Dozier was never considered a home run threat in college or in the minor leagues. But before his MLB career was over, he had hit 192 homers.
“I was playing golf one day and my minor league hitting coach, Tom Brunansky, was playing in the group behind me. I drove the ball 300 yards, and he came running up to me and said to meet him at the ball field after golf. Brunansky suggested I needed to translate my golf drive to the baseball field, and that’s what eventually changed things for me. He got a fungo bat and a bucket of balls and tossed them up, just to see how far I could hit to create bat whip. The home runs did not come immediately, but from that point on, I could see that I might have a little power,” the former Twins Minor League Player of the Year said.
Beginning with the Twins in 2012, Dozier hit 6, 18, 23, 28, 42, 34, and 15 home runs in consecutive seasons.
Dozier won a World Series ring with the Washington Nationals in 2019 and appeared in the World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2018. He was a participant in the Home Run Derby in 2014, set an American League home run record for second basemen with 42 in 2016 and won the Gold Glove Award 2017. Dozier achieved a rare combination to become the first MLB player to hit a home run in his first plate appearance in an All-Star game in 2015 and in a postseason game in 2017.
Dozier hung up the cleats in 2020, so he could spend time with his daughter, Reese, and sons, Rip and Jesse, ages 6, 5, and 4.
“I knew I wanted to spend more time with my family, and I thought it was the right time to retire,” he said.
Today, he and his wife, Renee, own a real estate business in Hattiesburg.
The word on Dozier:
“Brian always found a way to perfectly balance being a fierce competitor and being able to keep things light and fun on the field for his teammates. As a pitcher, I loved him because he pumped confidence in me with his words, actions and the way
he played the game.” — Golden Eagle teammate Wade Weathers
“I think what made him so special was the fact that he would do whatever he could to find a way to help his team win. He never cared about individual stats. He inspired his teammates with his play, and that was the same trait that made him so successful in the big leagues.” — Voice of the Golden Eagles John Cox
“When we were recruiting Brian, his baseball skills, and IQ for
the game were exceptional. He’s one of the best to ever play at USM. The success he had on the Major League level was no surprise to me. He’s an All-Star both on and off the field, and
we are very proud of him.” — Former USM head baseball coach Scott Berry
“At a 2006 NCAA Tournament press conference, Coach Corky Palmer picked three players to meet with the media. Freshman Brian Dozier was one of the players Palmer selected. For ‘old school’ Palmer to let a freshman represent his team in such an important public setting told me that Dozier was extremely well respected, and not just for his bat and glove.” — Former Hattiesburg American sports editor Allan Hinton
“Brian was an incredible player and a tremendous leader during his time as a Golden Eagle. He was injured his final season, but that did not stop him from contributing everything he could for his team that went on a historic run to reach the 2009 World Series.” — USM Sports Information Director Jack Duggan
“Brian is athletic, and he has a strong arm. He pays attention to the game, he knows whose pitching, he has all the intangibles
to be a good shortstop.” — Minnesota Twins interim manager Scott Ullger before Dozier’s first game in the majors. From the “Baseball Almanac.”
