The Philadelphia Phillies sprung to life just a little over an hour before Major League Baseball’s 4 p.m. ET trade deadline on Wednesday, acquiring Corey Dickerson from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The move provides the Phillies with some much-needed outfield depth, offering an opportunity to shake up the lineup during the final two months of the season.
At 30 years old, Dickerson had been sidelined for a large portion of the season due to a shoulder injury and most recently, a groin issue. But when he’s been healthy, he’s been red hot.
In 43 games this year, Dickerson is slashing .317/.376/.556 with four home runs and 25 RBI. Two of those round-trippers came on Tuesday against the Cincinnati Reds during a game that was highlighted by a benches-clearing brawl sparked by Amir Garrett.
It was the exclamation point of a torrid 10-game stretch for the left fielder in which he slashed .423/.545/.654. That’s a rare good stretch for Dickerson, who has been a shell of his former self during a two-year stint with the Pirates.
After heading to Pittsburgh in 2018, Dickerson hit just 13 home runs in 135 games, though his batting average was a solid, even .300. The lack of power was a disappointing turn of events, however, considering the lefty averaged 26 home runs during his two seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays from 2016-2017.
The Phillies will be hoping the change of scenery to a hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park will help Dickerson regain that power-hitting form while adding another outfield option to the lineup.
Philadelphia’s outfield depth had fallen under siege since Andrew McCutchen went down with a season-ending ACL injury in June. Since then, the Phillies plummeted from tops in the NL East to a battle just to stay out of third place.
Dickerson would immediately slot into the starting left field role while Jay Bruce is on the 10-day IL, relegating Adam Hasely back to the bench. When Bruce returns, Dickerson could move to center field, allowing Scott Kingery to take over full-time as the starting third baseman over the struggling Maikel Franco.
