Pittsburgh Pirates Wake Up Call: Best spot for Dickerson?

In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.

The headline offseason acquisition for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Corey Dickerson, brings a lot to the table. He has been an above average run producer by most measures, including four straight seasons of above average wRC+. He has consistently posted an ISO of .200 or greater in each of his full major league seasons. He is a consistent home run threat, having blasted 24 or more in each of his non-injury shortened seasons.

So where in the lineup should he hit?

I talked about this very topic with Josh Taylor last night for an episode of our Locked on Pirates podcast. It was a fantastic conversation that you’ll never get to hear, as my recording software decided to swat away 30 minutes of engaging baseball talk by not working.

But I digress.

For his career, Dickerson has spent the majority of his career bouncing around the order, hitting anywhere from first to seventh with a significant sample size at each spot other than third. Chief among those locations is the second spot with 455 plate appearances. In that spot he has a career .378 wOBA and a 133 wRC+.

Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdler has given Dickerson some Spring Training run in the second spot thus far, and all signs would seem to point to Dickerson starting the season there.

Doing so does not mean that Dickerson would be an automatic lock to continue his production. Batting before Starling Marte or Josh Bell might presumably result in getting some better pitches to hit. It will be up to Dickerson to do more with fastballs than he has previously, yet he should be able to do enough damage for the Pittsburgh Pirates with talented hitters around him.

Piratesguide – the perfect gift for a Pittsburgh Pirates fan

Our 280-page Pittsburgh Pirates 2018 season preview book is now available on Amazon in e-book and paperback formats! CLICK HERE to learn more. Makes a perfect gift for any Pirates fan in your life.

Baseball talk on the web

• Fangraphs takes a look at the most and least confident projections.
• Beyond the Box Score wonders what the hold up is with closer Greg Holland.

Thanks for checking us out here at Pirates Breakdown. Please make sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook for the best Pirates coverage all year long!