Corey Dickerson

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McKenzie Corey Dickerson

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Biographical Information[edit]

Outfielder Corey Dickerson started 2013 in AAA and made his major league debut a couple of months later.

He was selected by the Colorado Rockies in the 29th round of the 2009 amateur draft out of high school. He did not sign and then was taken again by the Rockies in the 8th round of the 2010 amateur draft. The scout was Damon Iannelli.

Passing on a scholarship to Mississippi State University, he made his pro debut that summer with the Casper Ghosts, hitting .348/.412/.634 with 22 doubles, 9 triples, 13 home runs, 54 runs and 61 RBI in 69 games. He led the Pioneer League in RBI (tied with Cody Hawn), extra-base hits (44) and total bases (175, 17 ahead of Jake Lemmerman)), was second in doubles (2 behind Lemmerman), triples (one behind Billy Hamilton) and slugging (second to Nick Akins), third in home runs (tied with Brandon Decker and Hawn) and 6th in average. He joined Rafael Ortega and Adam Eaton as the PL All-Star outfielders but Lemmerman got the MVP.

He played with the Asheville Tourists the next year and, in a June 3rd game against the Augusta Greenjackets, tying a South Atlantic League record with 10 runs batted in (James Barbe had set the mark in 1978). Overall, he hit .282/.356/.629 with 87 RBI that season and led the circuit with 32 home runs (7 ahead of runner-up Mark Canha). He also led the SAL in OPS and in slugging, 100 points more than Canha. He tied for third in RBI. He was 4th in the affiliated minors in slugging and tied for fourth in home runs. He failed to crack the SAL All-Star team as Brandon Jacobs, Kyle Parker, Christian Yelich and Brady Shoemaker were picked in the outfield. In the affiliated minors, he tied for 4th in home runs (even with Matt Adams, Ryan Lavarnway, Jai Miller and Jorge Vazquez, trailing Bryan LaHair, Ian Gac and Tim Wheeler) and tied Cody Ransom for 4th in slugging (behind LaHair, Anthony Rizzo and Kent Matthes).

He began 2012 with the Modesto Nuts and hit .338/.396/.583 with 9 homers in 60 games there. He was then promoted to the Tulsa Drillers, for whom he clubbed 13 more home runs while batting .274/.322/.504. Overall, he had 40 doubles, 88 RBI and 83 runs on the year. He was 4th in the Rockies chain in homers, 3rd in doubles (behind Trevor Story and Matt McBride and 5th in RBI. He followed by batting .364 for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League. Baseball America named him the Rockies' 13th-best prospect.

He started the 2013 campaign with the AAA Colorado Springs Sky Sox and was hitting .386/.429/.646 with 13 triples and 56 runs after 66 games there. At the time, he was leading the 2013 PCL in both average and three-baggers. He was called up to Colorado to make his debut on June 22nd, starting in right field and batting sixth. He continued right where he had left off in Colorado Springs, going 2 for 4 with a pair of doubles off Dan Haren, scoring and driving in a run as the Rockies defeated the Washington Nationals, 7-1. he played 69 games for Colorado, hitting .263 with 5 homers and 17 RBIs. In 2014, he was the team's regular left fielder, hitting .312 with 27 doubles, 24 homers and 76 RBIs in 131 games. His OPS+ was an outstanding 141. But he was unable to build on his success in 2015 because of injury problems. He was placed on the disabled list three separate times, with plantar fascitis the first two times, in may and June and with a non-displaced rib fracture resulting from diving for a ball in August. As a result, he was limited to 65 games. He was still productive, with a .304 average, 10 homers and 31 RBIs and an OPS+ of 118. However, the Rockies signed free agent OF Gerardo Parra the following January, creating a crowded outfield picture. On January 28, 2016, they addressed the issue by sending Corey to the Tampa Bay Rays, alongside 3B Kevin Padlo, in return for Ps Jake McGee and German Marquez.

Dickerson scored the first run of the 2017 major league season on April 2nd. Batting first and playing DH for the Rays, he led off the bottom of the 1st with a single off Masahiro Tanaka of the New York Yankees and came around to score the season's first run on a sacrifice fly by Evan Longoria. It was a good omen as he had an outstanding first half which led him to being voted the starting DH on the American League squad for the 2017 All-Star Game. He finished the year at .282 with 27 homers and 62 RBIs. It seemed like he was set to play many years with the Rays but in a very strange development, just as spring training was opening on February 17, 2018, he was designated for assignment. Apparently, Rays owner Stuart Sternberg had mandated that the payroll be cut and Dickerson was due to make $5.95 million, making him too expensive, apparently. To replace him, the Rays acquired 1B C.J. Cron, who was making half of Chris's salary, for a player to be named later. On February 22nd, the Rays found a taker for Dickerson, sending him to the Pittsburgh Pirates for P Daniel Hudson and minor league infielder Tristan Gray. He started off on a very good note with the Pirates, as after 11 games, he was hitting .356 with a National League-leading 7 doubles, 10 runs and 9 RBIs. On April 14th, however, he won a game not with power, but with technique, as he surprised the Miami Marlins in the 9th inning of a scoreless game with runners on the corner. He caught P Brad Ziegler off guard with a bunt that fell between him and 2B Starlin Castro, driving in the lone run of a 1-0 win. It was a personal decision, as Dickerson figured that Ziegler was among the best at inducing double plays and that a bunt would catch the Marlins' defence by surprise, as no one would be expecting it, which is exactly what happened. On April 26th, he hit the first walk-off homer of his career against the Detroit Tigers, a line drive off Alex Wilson that gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 win. The call was disputed however, and was only confirmed two minutes later after a video review, long after Dickerson had been mobbed by teammates and doused with Gatorade, leaving open the question of what he would have done had the play been ruled a foul ball. He ended the season at .300 in 135 games, with 35 doubles, 13 homers and 55 RBIs.

Dickerson was back with Pittsburgh at the start of the 2019 season and hit .315 in 44 games until he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies on July 31st in return for international bonus slot money. He had missed two months, from early April to early June, with a strained right shoulder. He continued to hit well for the Phillies, with a .293 average in 34 games, but on September 4th, he fouled a ball off his foot. X-rays initially came back negative, but he played his last game on September 11th, and on September 17th it was announced that he had a broken foot, ending his season. In 78 games between the two teams, he had hit .304 with 12 homers and 59 RBIs, his 6th straight season of maintaining an OPS+ above 100. He became a free agent after the season and on December 28th, he signed a two-year deal with the Miami Marlins worth $17.5 million.

He had a decent first season for Miami in 2020, during the pandemic-shortened season, hitting .258 with 7 homers and 17 RBIs. His OPS+ was only 91 - well below his normal production - but he was one of the few offensive threats on a team that won its games thanks largely to pitching and defence. He appeared in the postseason for the first time, hitting a key home run in the two-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs in the Wild Card Series, then went 3 for 12 as the Marlins were defeated by the Atlanta Braves in the Division Series. In his second season with the Fish in 2021, he was hitting .260 after 62 games with 2 homers, 14 RBIs and an OPS+ of 94 - basically a carbon copy of the year before - when he went on the injured list on June 15th with a contusion to his left foot. Two weeks later, on June 29th, he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays alongside another veteran, P Adam Cimber, in return for IF Joe Panik and P Andrew McInvale. He was joining a team with a strong group of outfielders - but a lack of lefthanded bats. He made his first appearance in a Jays uniform on August 3rd. He batted .282 in 46 games for Toronto, with 4 homers and 15 RBIs, to finish the year at .271 in 109 games, with an OPS+ of 98.

He joined the St. Louis Cardinals as a free agent in 2022. On August 23-25, he became the 13th player since 1961 to collect hits in 10 consecutive at-bats: he collected 4 hits, including a pair of doubles to finish the second game of a doubleheader the first day, followed that with a 4-for-4 game the next day, with another double, then on the 25th, he singled in the 1st and 3rd innings to make it 10 in a row, before hitting in a fielder's choice in the 4th. However, he wasn.t done for the day, as he added a triple in the 8th. All three games were against the Chicago Cubs and he improved his average from .232 to .278 thanks to the three-game barrage.

Dickerson is probably one of the best "bad ball" hitters in the major leagues. In 2019, among 300 qualifying hitters, Dickerson was the only one to post a positive run total while swinging at pitches outside the strike zone. For all of the other hitters, it was a bad idea to swing at such pitches.

Notable Achievements[edit]

  • AL All-Star (2017)
  • NL Gold Glove Winner (2018/LF)
  • 20-Home Run Seasons: 3 (2014, 2016 & 2017)

Sources[edit]

Related Sites[edit]

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