How Legit is Giants Alex Dickerson?
On June 10th, 2019, Dickerson was cast off from his hometown Padres in a minor swap with the Giants. He was DFA’d before the deal was struck, so the Padres had essentially grown tired of waiting around for him to finally realize his potential. He showed that he could hack it a little bit in 2016, putting up a .788 OPS with 10 homers in 84 games, but then missed two full years due to back surgery in 2017 and Tommy John surgery in Spring Training 2018. In his 19 plate appearances with the 2019 Padres, he reached base three times. Giants fans’ expectations for Dickerson in their uniform were limited, if not nonexistent.
Then – for about five weeks, at least – he became Barry Bonds.
After a brief stint in Sacramento, he joined the big club on June 21st and announced his presence with a grand slam and 6 RBI. If you had bet on him at that moment, perhaps using this bet365 bonus code, you would have made some serious money. In 98 plate appearances between that day and the end of July, he hit .386/.449/.773 with 6 home runs and a wRC+ (Weighted Runs Created Plus) of 212, 112% better than a league-average hitter. The Giants, who would finish the year with a 77-85 record, were 20-10 in Dickerson’s first 30 games with the team.
After those magical 30 games, an oblique injury sent him to the Injured List in the first week of August, and he played sporadically the rest of the season thanks to never fully healing. In those 73 plate appearances after his IL placement, he put up a puny .164/.219/.209 line that was good for 16 wRC+. His overall line for the year was still above average, but how much he could stay on the field was a major question mark. He still has yet to play more than 84 games in a single season, and he’s 30 years old now. His good play did guarantee him a spot in the teams’ plans for 2020, though – Farhan Zaidi said after the season’s conclusion that “with the impact (Dickerson) showed, he’s going to play as much as his body will allow.”
This season proved that the promise Dickerson showed last year was legit. He played in 52 out of 60 games (he was also on the paternity list for a few games) and posted a .298/.371/.576 line with 10 homers and a 151 wRC+. His hard-hit percentage (batted balls with an exit velocity of 95 MPH or higher) and average exit velocity were both above league average. His chase rate of pitches outside of the strike zone was slightly higher than the league-average hitter (33.7% vs. 30.6%), but his 9.4% walk rate still exceeded the rest of the league’s 9.2% by a hair. This represented the best walk rate of Dickerson’s career so far, so hopefully it’s a sign of increased selectivity rather than small sample size silliness.
There’s a lot of statistics that back up the fact that Dickerson is a Major League contributor when healthy, but it’s hard to quantify durability. All but 12 of his 170 plate appearances in 2020 came facing right-handed pitching, so he’ll unquestionably be shielded from lefties to help keep him healthy and to give him the best chance to succeed. He would do well to platoon with a righty in left while fellow lefty Mike Yastrzemski plays every day in the opposite corner. Austin Slater is a great fit to platoon with Dickerson while occasionally spelling Yaz.
There have been rumblings that the Giants are looking for another left-handed bat to help give their lineup some balance, with Jackie Bradley Jr. being one of the most oft-connected names. This sort of addition could hypothetically cut into Dickerson’s playing time a bit despite Bradley being a traditional center fielder. A lower-profile addition seems more likely if they were they were to add a third lefty bat into the outfield mix.
A lefty bench bat in the infield who can play second and third would be a more natural fit, since righties Donovan Solano, Evan Longoria and Wilmer Flores will get most of the reps between those two positions as the roster currently stands. No doubt Zaidi was thinking along these lines when he added Rule 5 selection Jason Vosler, a 27-year-old third baseman who has hit at least 20 homers in each of his last three minor league seasons. If they decide to go after a more seasoned option with a similar profile, Tommy La Stella could fit their needs like a glove.
This was a roundabout way of saying that I don’t expect the Giants will make any moves that cut into Dickerson’s path to starting every day against righties, nor should they. With a little good luck from the health fairy, he should have a prominent role manning left field for the Giants for several years to come.
-Michael Swinehart
