Cincinnati Reds: Five free agent outfielders to pursue this offseason

2. Corey Dickerson

Dick Williams and Nick Krall should take a good, long look at Corey Dickerson. The former Pittsburgh Pirate brings a Gold Glove caliber defense and power from the left side of the dish. Did I mention that Dickerson loves hitting at Great American Ball Park? For his career, Dickerson is a .373 hitter at GABP with a 1.226 OPS and 9 home runs in 19 games.

More from Blog Red Machine

• Reds vs. White Sox: Pitching preview, prediction, and more
• Reds: Reiver Sanmartin adds another twist to offseason roster construction
• Reds: Signing Tyler Mahle to a contract extension should be a top priority
• Reds: Reiver Sanmartin should get first major league start vs Pirates
• Reds should unquestionably bring Wade Miley back in 2022

Last season, Dickerson split time between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Regardless of which team he was on, he did damage when facing the Reds. In 7 starts, Dickerson put up an OPS of .899 while slugging 3 home runs and 8 RBIs.

Compared to some of the other free agent outfielders available this winter, Dickerson may come fairly cheap. He’s unlikely to garner the same type fo attention as Marcell Ozuna, Nicholas Castellanos or even Yasiel Puig. However, Dickerson has the capability to put up similar offensive numbers to those aforementioned free agent outfielders.

Dickerson’s defense in 2018 was not what it was in 2018 when he took home his first Gold Glove. In fact, after putting up 16 defensive runs saved in 2018, last season, that number dropped to -6. That’s a huge drop in defensive production. Dickerson has great defensive ability, but it didn’t show last year.

Dickerson does have a penchant to swing a lot. Last season, Dickerson’s walk-rate was just 5.7%, however, that was up from 3.9% the year before. By comparison, Ervin’s walk-rate in 2019 was 6.9% and Winker led the trio at 9.9% after putting up a walk-rate of 14.7% in 2018. If you’re looking for patience at the plate, Dickerson is not that guy.