Report: No. 6-ranked Phillies prospect Dylan Cozens involved in fight at Dominican Winter League

DylanCozens

Frank Klose/Sports Talk Philly

By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor

SANTIAGO — A fight between Philadelphia Phillies No. 6-ranked prospect Dylan Cozens and Seattle Mariners No. 20-ranked prospect Boog Powell occurred early Saturday afternoon at the Dominican Winter League, according to La Voz del Fanático's Arving Gonzalez.

Update 1:51 p.m., Nov. 6: Powell received five stitches due to the confrontation, which started when he and "native players were joking on Cozens' trouble recognizing breaking pitches," according to Gonzalez.

Cozens, 22, was drafted in the second round of the 2012 amateur draft out of Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. In 134 games last season at Double-A Reading, Cozens hit .276/.350/.591 with 38 doubles, three triples, 40 home runs and 125 RBIs. Both his home run and RBI totals were franchise single season highs for Reading.

Powell, 23, hit .270/.326/.359 in 64 games at Triple-A Tacoma last season with 14 extra-base hits and 27 RBis. He was drafted in the 20th round of the 2012 draft by the Oakland Athletics.

This incident was not Cozens' first slip-up that drew concern to the professional level, as he was kicked off his high school baseball team, according to Jake Kaplan in a June 2012 article for MLB.com.

Kaplan writes:

His obvious athletic abilities aside, eligibility issues surrounded Cozens in high school. He was kicked off the team at Desert Mountain High School, according to reports, and transferred to Chaparral, where he was ruled ineligible for a year. More questions were raised after Cozens reportedly began playing for Chaparral before the full year of ineligibility had passed, but he was eventually ruled eligible. …

"Yeah, I think he got into a couple tussles," [general manager Ruben] Amaro said. "But that's OK. I don't have a problem with that."

Both Cozens and Powell are teammates on the Aguilas Cibaenas.

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