Minnesota Twins second baseman Brian Dozier hit his 40th homer for the season on Monday, which set a new record in the American League for primary second baseman. However, the Twins still lost 4-2 to Detroit.
The home run by Dozier moved him past Alfonso Soriano the former New York Yankee, who had set the previous mark with 39 in 2002.
Two of the 40 home runs by Dozier came while he played DH, but he is now the holder of the AL record for a player who has spent most of one season at second base.
In hitting his 40th round tripper for the season, Dozier became just the second Minnesota Twin to hit 40 home runs or more. The only other Twin to hit over 40 home runs was Harmon Killebrew in 1970.
Making things very interesting is the way in which Dozier has reached 40 home runs. He hit only 14 home runs prior to the mid-July All-Star break. Since then he has gone deep 25 times over a period of just 55 games.
It has been obvious that Dozier does not enjoy chasing this record the way he really could if the Twins were in a playoff race. However, that is out of the question as the team is dead last in the American League Central at 53-91.
Minnesota is 30.5 games out of first place in the division and has the worst overall record in all of baseball.
Dozier told a group of reporters following the game on Monday that he will certainly enjoy his accomplishments after the season has ended. However, looking at likely losing over 100 games takes something away from the record he set at this time, said the second baseman.
Given that there is another 18 games left in the regular season, Dozier will have a good chance of passing the overall record of 42 home runs hit while playing the majority of games at second base held by Johnson and Roger Hornsby.
Dozier has 38 at present as two came while playing DH. Since the All-Star break, Dozier has hit .319 with his 25 homers. Previous to this season, Dozier had not hit more than 28 home runs in any season, a feat he accomplished in 2015.
