The Miami Marlins signed outfielder Corey Dickerson of McComb, Mississippi to a two year contract worth $17.5 million on Tuesday. Dickerson shared his time last season with the Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates.
In 78 games with the Phillies and Pirates (44 games with Pittsburgh and 34 games with Philadelphia), Dickerson batted .304 with 12 home runs and 59 runs batted in. During the 279 plate appearances, he had 260 at bats, 33 runs scored, 79 hits, 28 doubles, two triples, one stolen base, 16 walks, a .341 on base percentage, .565 slugging percentage, 147 total bases and three sacrifice flies.
Dickerson only played half the season due to a foot injury. In addition to the Pirates and Phillies, Dickerson has played for the Colorado Rockies and Tampa Bay Rays.
While with the Rays in 2017, Dickerson was an all-star. He batted .282 with a career high 27 home runs and 62 runs batted in.
The fact that Dickerson has a career batting average of .286, with 115 home runs and 370 runs batted in over seven seasons, could make him an effective offensive commodity for a Marlins squad looking to score runs. Miami only scored 615 runs in 2019. That was the least in the National League and second fewest in Major League Baseball. Only the Detroit Tigers at 582 runs, scored fewer runs than the Marlins last season.
Dickerson is expected to be the everyday left fielder for the Marlins. Lewis Brinson of Fort Lauderdale, Florida is expected to play center field and Brian Anderson of Edmond, Oklahoma is expected to be the every day right fielder.
The acquisition of Dickerson, who is 30 years old, might actually be a surprise to some. One would think Miami is in the process of rebuilding as they had a record of 57 wins and 102 losses in 2019. However by signing a veteran outfielder, it appears Miami is moving away a little bit from that plan.
