The Hot Bat: Corey Dickerson
This past off-season, the St. Louis Cardinals took a flier on outfielder Corey Dickerson. They signed him to a 1-year deal worth $5M, in hopes that he could provide some added offense to the outfield/DH positions.
This was before signing Pujols, and also knowing their outfield was pretty much set between Tyler O’Neill, Dylan Carlson & Harrison Bader with the likes of Lars Nootbaar & Juan Yepez waiting in the wings.
The 33-year old Dickerson, saw his share of struggles early on in the 2022 season. Without an everyday spot, Corey had a .184 batting avg. in April, a .176 batting avg. in May before dealing with calf issues that forced him onto the IL in June. It seemed as though he was a forgotten name with a number of guys stepping up for the Cardinals to a point that some fans thought he may not rejoin the team at all.
But once getting healthy after rehabbing in the minors, Dickerson is making the most of his playing time these days, hitting .314 in July and over .472 in the month of August, bringing the left-handed hitter’s avg. up to .278 on the season.
With Nolan Arenado flashing the glove and a threat at the plate, Paul Goldschmidt putting up triple crown numbers and Albert Pujols having one of his best stretches of offense in his career, Dickerson’s production hasn’t been the most talked about. That is until recently, when he made Cardinals history by getting a hit in 10 straight at bats (which is the longest streak by a hitter in the expansion era *1961) for the club.
Dickerson credits putting in the work and seeing more regular at-bats to his turn around, and with a stretch run coming up in September, his bat may keep him in the lineup more times than not as the Cardinals seek a division championship.
They say there’s strength in numbers, and if Corey Dickerson continues putting up these type of numbers, it not only strengthens the slashline but also the team’s chances to do damage the rest of the way.