Alexander Ross Dickerson (born May 26, 1990), nicknamed "Grandpa", is an American professional baseball left fielder who is currently a free agent. He previously played in Major League Baseball for the San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves. In college at Indiana University he was a unanimous selection as the 2010

Big Ten Conference Baseball Player of the Year The Big Ten Conference Player of the Year is a baseball award given to the Big Ten Conference's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1982 season, with both pitchers and position players eligible. After the 1994 season, ...

. Dickerson was drafted by the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

in the third round of the

2011 Major League Baseball draft The 2011 Major League Baseball draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2011, from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Gerrit Cole out of the University of California, Los Angeles, with the first ...

. He was the 2012 Florida State League Player of the Year, 2013 Eastern League Rookie of the Year, and 2015 Pacific Coast League Rookie of the Year. He made his MLB debut with the San Diego Padres in 2015. He underwent

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's bo ...

in 2018.

Amateur career

Dickerson attended

Poway High School Poway High School is a four-year secondary school in southern California accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Established in 1961, its approximately 2,408 students are from the city of Poway and the community of Rancho Be ...

Poway, California Poway () is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. The unincorporated community became a city on December 1, 1980. Poway's rural roots influenced its motto "The City in the Country". The city has a population of 49,701 as of 2 ...

, and played on the baseball team as a first baseman and outfielder. He batted .354/.420/.686 as a junior, .455/.522/.851 as a senior, and was named All-San Diego Division I Player of the Year. At the age of fifteen Dickerson underwent back surgery, and first became known by the nickname Grandpa. The Washington Nationals selected Dickerson in the 48th round of the

2008 Major League Baseball draft The 2008 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft continued Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft of high school and college baseball players, and was held on June 5 and 6, 2008. First round selections ;Key Supplemental first rou ...

. He elected, however, to attend Indiana University, where he played outfield and designated hitter for the Indiana Hoosiers baseball team from 2009–2011. As a freshman, batting

cleanup Cleanup, clean up or clean-up may refer to: * Cleanup (animation), a stage of animation workflow * Clean-up (environment), environmental action to remove litter from a place * Cleanup hitter, a baseball position * Clean-up Records, a record label ...

Dickerson hit .370/.428/.618 with 14 home runs. He was named the Big Ten Conference's Freshman of the Year and received Freshman All-American honors. Dickerson had a breakout season as a sophomore, slugging .805 (8th in the nation) and winning the Big Ten Triple Crown by leading the Big Ten in batting average (.419), home runs (24; second in the nation), and runs batted in (75). He was named the

, and earned first-team All-American honors. In his junior season he batted .367/.440/.540. In 2009 and 2010, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the Wareham Gatemen of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

Professional career

Pittsburgh Pirates

The

selected Dickerson in the third round of the

. After signing for a

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

of $380,700, Dickerson spent most of the rest of the 2011 season with the State College Spikes, batting .313/.393/.493 with an .886 OPS (9th in the

New York-Pennsylvania League New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

) in 150 at bats; his 16 doubles were second among all short-season batters. Dickerson spent the 2012 season with the Bradenton Marauders, where he batted .295/.353/.451 with 31 doubles (4th in the league), 13 home runs (7th), and 90 RBIs (2nd) in 488 at bats and was named the Florida State League Player of the Year, a post-season All Star, and an MiLB organization All Star. Prior to the 2013 season, Dickerson was named the 7th-best first base prospect in baseball by MLB.com. He spent 2013 with the Double-A Altoona Curve, where he moved from first base to the outfield. He batted .288/.337/.494 with 36 doubles (2nd in the league), 17 home runs, and 68 RBIs in 451 at bats and was named the Eastern League Rookie of the Year, a post-season All Star, and an MiLB organization All Star.

San Diego Padres (2013–19)

On November 25, 2013, the Pirates traded Dickerson to the San Diego Padres for Jaff Decker and Miles Mikolas. Dickerson sprained his left ankle in 2014 spring training with the Padres when he stepped on a sprinkler head, and an MRI later found a bone cyst in his left heel which required surgery and a bone graft. The surgery delayed his start to the 2014 season, but he finished with 34 games with the Double-A

San Antonio Missions The San Antonio Missions are a Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League and the Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. They are located in San Antonio, Texas, and are named for the Spanish missions around which the city was founded. ...

, batting .321/.367/.496 in 137 at bats. On November 20, 2014, the Padres added Dickerson to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, and ...

to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Dickerson spent most of 2015 with the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas, hitting .307 (10th in the league)/.374/.503 with 82 runs (3rd), 36 doubles (6th), 9 triples (2nd), 12 home runs, and 71 RBIs in 459 at bats over 125 games, including 88 starts in left field. His performance earned him the Pacific Coast League Rookie of the Year Award, and he was named a post-season All Star and an MiLB organization All Star. On August 6, 2015, Dickerson made his Major League debut with the San Diego Padres with a pinch-hitting appearance in the 8th inning. He was called up to replace

Will Venable William Dion Venable (born October 29, 1982) is an American professional baseball coach and former player. He is the associate manager of the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB as an outfielder for the San Diego Padr ...

, who went on paternity leave. The next day, Dickerson collected his first Major League hit with a pinch single in extra innings. Dickerson returned to the Padres when rosters expanded in September. A tweaked

hip flexor A flexor is a muscle that flexes a joint. In anatomy, flexion (from the Latin verb ''flectere'', to bend) is a joint movement that decreases the angle between the bones that converge at the joint. For example, one’s elbow joint flexes when one ...

limited his playing opportunities, but Dickerson appeared in eight more games as a pinch hitter, and once as a defensive substitute in left field. Dickerson started the 2016 season in Triple-A El Paso. On May 2, the Padres recalled Dickerson from Triple-A. On May 10 against the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

at Wrigley Field, Dickerson hit a pinch-hit grand slam off of Adam Warren for his first career home run and his first four career RBIs. He made his first Major League start in left field the following day, but was returned to El Paso on May 14. With the Chihuahuas, he continued a 28-game minor league hitting streak through the end of May. On June 28, Dickerson was recalled from El Paso when Jon Jay broke his forearm. Dickerson remained as the regular left fielder for the Padres for the remainder of the season. For the season, with El Paso he batted .382/.425/.622 with 10 home runs and 51 RBIs in 217 at bats. He finished the season with the Padres with a .257/.333/.455 batting line and 39 runs, 10 home runs, and 37 RBIs in 285 plate appearances. He made 65 starts in left field. In spring training of 2017, Dickerson suffered a bulging disk. After initially trying to rehab the injury, Dickerson underwent back surgery by

microdiscectomy A discectomy (also called open discectomy, if done through a 1/2 inch or larger skin opening) is the surgical removal of abnormal disc material that presses on a nerve root or the spinal cord. The procedure involves removing a portion of an in ...

to remove bulging disc material in his lower back which ended his season. In spring training of 2018, while trying to come back from his back surgery, Dickerson tore his UCL in his elbow and underwent

, costing him another full season. He was outrighted off the roster after the season. He elected free agency on November 3, 2018, and later re-signed to a minor league deal on December 11. Playing for AAA El Paso in 2019, he hit .372/.469/.606 with 5 home runs and 20 RBIs in 94 at bats. Dickerson had his contract selected to the major leagues on May 3, 2019, but after 19 at bats with the Padres was designated for assignment on June 5.

San Francisco Giants (2019–2021)

On June 10, 2019, Dickerson was traded to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for Franklin Van Gurp, one of the first trades with new Giants general manager

Farhan Zaidi Farhan Zaidi (born November 11, 1976) is a Canadian-American baseball executive who is currently the President of Baseball Operations for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball. Zaidi is one of two Muslim executives in Major League Bas ...

. He played seven games for the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats. On June 21, in his first game with the Giants, he hit a grand slam and had a career-high 6 runs batted in. With the Giants in 2019, he batted .290/.351/.529 with 28 runs, 6 home runs, and 26 RBIs in 155 at bats. On September 1, 2020, Dickerson had a historic game which came as part of a 23-5 victory against the Rockies at Coors Field. He went 5-6 with 3 home runs and 2 doubles and tied the franchise records for runs scored (5) and total bases (16) in a game. His double in his last at bat traveled 414 feet and would have been a home run in any other MLB ballpark; thus he fell just short of tying Willie Mays' 4 home runs in a single game. In 2020 he batted .298/.371/.576 with 28 runs, 10 home runs, and 27 RBIs in 151 at bats. He played 41 games in left field, and 5 games in right field. Avoiding arbitration, Dickerson and the Giants agreed on a $2.1 million salary for the 2021 season. During the season, he was on the injured list three times, with right shoulder, upper back, and right hamstring issues. In the 2021 regular season, he batted .233/.304/.420 with a career-high 13 home runs and 38 RBIs in 283 at bats. He played 82 games in left field, and his range factor per 9 innings of 1.78 was the fifth-best in the National League. On November 22, 2021, Dickerson was designated for assignment by the Giants to make room for pitcher Anthony DeSclafani. On November 26, 2021, he was placed on unconditional release waivers.

Atlanta Braves

On March 16, 2022, Dickerson signed a non-guaranteed, major-league contract worth $1 million with the Atlanta Braves. The Braves designated Dickerson for assignment on April 28. Two days later, Dickerson was outrighted to the Gwinnett Stripers. On October 17, Dickerson elected free agency.

Personal

Dickerson and his wife Jennifer had a son in September 2020. They reside in San Diego.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickerson, Alex 1990 births Living people All-American college baseball players San Diego Padres players San Francisco Giants players Atlanta Braves players Indiana Hoosiers baseball players Wareham Gatemen players State College Spikes players Bradenton Marauders players People from Poway, California Baseball players from California Altoona Curve players Scottsdale Scorpions players Arizona League Padres players Eugene Emeralds players San Antonio Missions players El Paso Chihuahuas players Sacramento River Cats players Gwinnett Stripers players