MLB

Corey Dickerson Has Been an Elite Hitter So Far in 2017

John Stolnis  —  @johnstolnis May 22nd, 2017
The Rays' slugger is crushing the ball and turning himself into one of the best players in the American League.

Tampa Bay Rays outfielder/designated hitter Corey Dickerson has always been a pretty good player. But right now, it could be argued that he's one of the best in baseball.

On Sunday, Dickerson went 2-for-4 against the New York Yankees, which raised his slash line to .347/.397/.635 on the season, with 11 home runs, 22 RBI and 30 runs scored. He has a weighted on base average (wOBA) of .430 and a weighted runs created (wRC+) of 180, along with an fWAR of 2.2, which is tied for 7th-best in Major League Baseball.

Among qualified American League hitters, his 11 home runs are tied for 6th, he's 5th in runs scored, 6th in RBI, 3rd in batting average, 4th in on-base percentage, 3rd in slugging, 4th in wOBA and tied for 3rd in wRC+.

Not Bryce Harper production, but not too shabby.

Possibly the most notable aspect about the former Colorado Rockies' ascent is that he's doing it away from his former home, the uber-friendly confines of Coors Field. And as of late, he's been especially toasty.



Over his last five games, Dickerson is batting .455/.500/1.136 with 5 dingers, 8 runs scored and 9 RBI. He has two multi-homer games in the past week, and is already just three-tenths of a point shy of matching his all-time fWAR of 2.5, which he accomplished in 2014.

Dickerson's 2017 season is a vast improvement over last year, when, during his first year in Tampa, he posted a slash line of .245/.293/.469 and put up an fWAR of 1.5. This could be credited to the fact that he's being far more selective at the plate -- in 2016, his strikeout rate was 24.5%, as compared to this season's 21.6%, and he's laying some serious lumber, with a hard-hit rate of 37.7%, up from 31.7% last season.

All those peripherals quantify just how hard the left-hander is smoking the ball.

Don't feel bad for the Rockies, who didn't exactly get hosed in the Dickerson trade. The player they received from Tampa, reliever Jake McGee, has been dominant. McGee has a 2.25 ERA and a 2.04 fielding independent pitching in 2017, and has struck out 12.38 batters per nine innings for a strikeout rate of 32.8%.

If Dickerson and McGee keep it rolling, we could have two All-Stars on our hands, and the very definition of a win/win deal.