Hunter Dozier hitting third Opening Day for Kansas City

Kansas City Royals utility player Hunter Dozier will start on third base and bat sixth on Opening Day against right-hander Kyle Gibson and the Texas Rangers.

What It Means:

Dozier signed a fresh new extension at the beginning of March and then turned in a .289/.373/.733 slash line with 5 home runs during Cactus League play. He was expected to be the No. 7 hitter but is up a spot in place of Adalberto Mondesi (oblique). Nicky Lopez is at shortstop. Here is the Royals' full Opening Day lineup: Whit Merrifield 2B, Andrew Benintendi LF, Carlos Santana 1B, Salvador Perez C, Jorge Soler DH, Dozier 3B, Kyle Isbel RF, Michael Taylor CF, Nicky Lopez SS. Brad Keller will be on the bump for Kansas City.

numberFire’s models project Dozier for 9.4 FanDuel points versus the Padres and he has a salary of $2,900 on Opening Day. Per our MLB Heat Map, the Cardinals' have the fifth-highest implied total (4.6 runs) out of the 26 teams playing Thursday.