Dylan Cozens (baseball)
Dylan Cozens (baseball)
Main page
256640

Dylan Cozens (baseball)

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Dylan Cozens (baseball)

Dylan Wallace Cozens (pronounced KUH-zins; born May 31, 1994) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and professional football defensive lineman. He was a second-round pick (77th overall) in the 2012 MLB draft by the Philadelphia Phillies, and played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the team from 2018 to 2019.

Cozens was born in Scottsdale, Arizona. His father Randy played football for four years as a defensive lineman at the University of Pittsburgh, and was drafted in the 17th round of the 1976 NFL draft by the Denver Broncos, but never played for them.

Cozens initially attended Desert Mountain High School in Arizona, but was suspended midway through his junior year for an altercation with his baseball coach. Baseball writer Keith Law reported that Cozens "shoved his coach and told him to 'f off' in the dugout during a game, so he was kicked off the team - the culmination of a series of incidents that turned many scouts off him, one even calling him a 'bully'".

That led to Cozens transferring to Chaparral High School. Due to his transfer, Cozens was forced to sit out the rest of his junior season due to eligibility restrictions. As a senior, Cozens posted a .520 batting average, and hit 19 home runs, in 33 games, breaking the school's single-season record, formerly held by longtime Chicago White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko. His 19 home runs led the state and were second nationally only to the 21 hit by future major leaguer Joey Gallo. He ended the season by hitting a walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning of the Division I state championship, winning the title. He played that season alongside future Team Israel outfielder/first baseman Jeremy Wolf.

Cozens' also was a standout defensive end on Chaparral's football team and verbally committed to play for the Arizona Wildcats football team before opting to sign with the Phillies.

As a scout for the Philadelphia Phillies, Marti Wolever, among other representatives of the organization, evaluated Cozens before the 2012 MLB draft and watched him during a workout at Citizens Bank Park. Though there were some concerns about Cozens’ temperament, the Phillies selected him in the second round with the 77th overall selection of the draft, and he signed a contract with a $659,800 signing bonus. "That was probably the guy I was most excited about", said Phillies general manager Rubén Amaro Jr., "Extraordinary power for a kid -- great body, runs well, seems to move pretty well".

Cozens began the 2012 season with the Gulf Coast Phillies of the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League. In 50 games, he batted .255 with five home runs and 24 runs batted in (RBIs). The Phillies promoted Cozens to the Williamsport Crosscutters of the Low–A New York–Penn League the following year. He finished the season second in the league in doubles (19), extra base hits (30), and runs (50) while also ranking third in slugging percentage (.469). Cozens struck out 147 times in his first full season of professional baseball for the Lakewood BlueClaws of the Single–A South Atlantic League. In 2015, he shared time with the Blueclaws and the Reading Fightin' Phils of the Double–A Eastern League.

During the Fightin Phils' 2016 season, Cozens hit 40 home runs, the most by any Eastern Leaguer since Ron Kittle in 1981, topping the team's single-season record set by Darin Ruf four years prior, and earning him the Joe Bauman Home Run Award for the most home runs on the season by a minor leaguer; he led the league in runs scored (106), extra-base hits (81), total bases (308), doubles (38), RBI (125) and slugging percentage (.591). His production helped the team finish with a league-best 89-52 record. However, Cozens batted just .197 off left-handed pitching, and struggled to make contact, striking out a league-leading 186 times, in 521 at-bats. MLB.com ranked him as the seventh-best prospect in the Phillies farm system and the Phils added Cozens to their 40-man roster.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.