Phillies 2017 Season Preview: Outfield Prospect Dylan Cozens
By John Town
Phillies outfield prospect Dylan Cozens will have to prove his 40-home run campaign at Double-A Reading last year was not a fluke.
The Phillies either have their next slugging corner outfielder or another product of the Reading power inflation in Dylan Cozens. The 22-year old hit 40 home runs last year at Double-A, no doubt being helped by Reading’s home park.
Cozens usually found his way into Top 30 prospect lists prior to the 2016 season, but he rocketed up them last offseason. Baseball America and Fangraphs both ranked him the No. 10 prospect in the system while MLB.com rated him Philly’s No. 9 prospect.
Now that Cozens has garnered attention outside of the normal prospect circles, the expectations are much higher. It’s much different for a top-ten prospect to bottom out compared to a top-30 prospect.
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Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs explained the biggest question about Cozens’s future:
"“Cozens is a mountainous, hulking man built for hitting balls further than the eye can see. Fear not that Cozens’ power was embellished by Reading: it’s real. (It’s 70 raw. Cozens was hitting balls out of Petco at the Futures Game.) The scouting community is just uncertain about his ability to tap into it consistently in the big leagues.”"
Scouts question Cozens’s ability to make contact because of his size, and those questions are valid considering Cozens racked up 186 strikeouts in 2016. Standing at 6’6″, his long arms lead him to have a very long swing. When he gets fully extended he can absolutely crush baseballs but he struggles with inside pitches. Pitchers at Triple-A and the major-leagues will certainly take advantage of that.
To alleviate that issue, Cozens tinkered with his approach at the plate a bit. Hitting coach Matt Stairs told Todd Zolecki of MLB.com that Cozens’s coaches in the Dominican League during the offseason had him standing closer to the plate to better stay with pitches.
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Cozens also added a leg kick modeled after Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson after watching his hitting tutorial on MLB Network. Cozens told Zolecki:
"“It was fun watching [Donaldson] break down his swing physically, seeing how balanced he was. He was able to get everything loaded and get everything ready so he was ready to attack the ball with everything that he had. Keeping the hands loose. Keeping the arms loose. Not trying to over-swing.”"
That leads us to Cozens’s 2017 season. He is set to be the everyday right fielder for the IronPigs alongside Roman Quinn in center and Nick Williams in left. Unlike Reading’s FirstEnergy Stadium, Lehigh Valley’s Coca-Cola Park will not give Cozens any help. It will be up to him to show that he can at least produce a significant portion of the 40 home runs he hit last year.
Cozens may be able to make his way to the major-leagues this season if he can hit like he did last year. However, a spot in the starting lineup needs to be available in order for that to happen. That would mean either an injury or a potential trade of Michael Saunders and/or Howie Kendrick. The Phillies hope to trade both of those players by the end of the season, but if they can’t, Cozens may be stuck in Triple-A until September call-ups.
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2017 will be Cozens’s year to show that his big power can be used in games.