St. Louis Cardinals: Evaluating Corey Dickerson’s role moving forward

Despite early season struggles, Corey Dickerson has made solid contributions to the Cardinals and has reinstated himself as a threat at the plate.

With Harrison Bader’s last-minute trade to the New York Yankees, increased faith has been necessarily vested in the remaining Cardinals outfielders, including former All Star and Gold Glover Corey Dickerson. It’s time for Dickerson to prove why he was brought to St. Louis, to be that “capable left-handed bat off the bench,” or perhaps even more, and he has the capacity to deliver.

Initial Struggles

Since signing his one-year, $5 million contract with the team, Dickerson has slashed .220/.268/.348 with a .616 OPS. Thus far, the 2022 season has been a downturn from his usual production, having hit for high average and considerable power in prior years.

Dickerson’s struggles were pronounced in the early months of the season, securing just 16 hits, no home runs in 97 plate appearances in both April and May for a .180 average. But a flash of brilliance shown through on June 3rd when Dickerson blasted a go-ahead home run to give the Cardinals a 5-4 lead over the Chicago Cubs. Another dinger smacked over the left field wall, though off of position player Frank Schwindel, gave Dickerson his second home of both the day and of the season.

What appeared to be the start of a resurgence for the 33-year-old journeyman, however, was abruptly cut short two days later by a left calf strain that put him on the 10-day injured list. After a lengthy, month long rehab in Memphis, a then healthy Dickerson was activated on July 9.