Dickerson wants a shot in CF
By C. Trent Rosecrans, CNATI.com Posted February 25, 2010 6:22 PM ET
GOODYEAR, Ariz. - Chris Dickerson knows this isn't going to sound right.
He doesn't want it coming of as whiny or unhappy - but he is frustrated. Dickerson's a competitor, he's always competed and prevailed. He wants to be the best and works hard to be the best. He's proud of what he did last season as a rookie and that's why it's hard for him to understand why nobody is mentioning him as a contender for the starting job in centerfield.
"I don't understand why that is. Why, maybe it's just because, I don't know. I have no clue," Dickerson said. "I can understand that I struggled some last year, but it's funny because people forget that before I got hurt I was hitting, I hitting close to .350 over the last month-and-a-half. My on-base percentage was close to .389."
Dickerson started off the 2009 season slowly, dipping below .200 in May and was at .234 as late as June 14. But he rebounded, hitting .318 in the next 43 games to raise his batting average to .277, and ended the season at .275. He also played well n centerfield and was the team's best leadoff hitter, hitting .298 with a .365 OB in 29 games in the leadoff spot.
"If you want me in the leadoff position, that's what I did. I got on base last year," Dickerson said. "I did everything I was supposed to do."
Except the one thing he can't control - staying healthy.
Since being called up in August of 2008, Dickerson has been on the disabled list three times, twice last season and once in 2008. He also spent time on Class AAA Louisville's disabled list in 2008.
"Dickerson has as much ability as anybody, it's just a matter of him staying healthy, the same thing I said last year," Baker said. "People want to know why he didn't play every day, and that's because I wanted to keep him healthy with his history of injuries."
But that's still frustrating to Dickerson - who understands his rant can come off wrong, and doesn't want to sound unhappy or like a jerk.
"It's kind of angry and it's frustration and I know it's going to come out that way, I know," Dickerson said.
Drew Stubbs is the favorite to be in centerfield on Opening Day.
Stubbs impressed in his short time in Cincinnati last season, hitting eight home runs in 180 at-bats, while hitting .267 and playing outstanding defense.
What strikes Dickerson is that his numbers weren't that different when he came up in 2008. Dickerson also came up in the middle of August and he hit six home runs in 102 at-bats, while batting .304. Like his 2009, it was cut short by a trip to the disable list.
Instead of giving him a chance to win the centerfield spot last spring, the Reds signed Willy Taveras. No further explanation is needed to remind Reds fans how that turned out.
With Taveras playing more than he wasn't, Dickerson played all three outfield positions, starting 27 games in left, 19 in center and 13 in right. He produced, too, finishing sixth among National League rookies in batting average (.275), fourth in stolen bases (11), third in on-base percentage (.379), sixth in walks (39) and tied for third in outfield assists (5).
"I'm not trying to make this as a stab at the general audience, I don't understand how I get written off," Dickerson said. "Drew's a great player, but you know, when I was in center, I don't remember a whole lot of balls falling out there. Everyone's wanting to put me in left, that's OK with me, I'm comfortable in all three positions."
Centerfield is like shortstop, the players that play there are usually a little defensive about their turf - it's the most important position of the outfield defensively, it sets a tone and it takes a certain attitude to want to be in the most crucial position. Dickerson says he's fine playing any of the other positions, but he's a centerfielder. According to Ultimate Zone Rating, it's also his best. His UZR/150, which measures how many runs above or under average a player is over the course of 150 games, was 45.5, while he was minus-21.5 in right and 21.8 in left. Small sample sizes can make advanced fielding stats notoriously unreliable and variable from year-to-year, but needless to say, it means he played a mean centerfield (Stubbs' UZR/150 in CF was 28.5)
"I've played that my entire career since I've been with the Reds," Dickerson said. "Now I've been slated as left field and even then it's not maybe he'll take over center, nope, no, he's battling for left. I don't understand it. You can ask anyone I've played with what my best position is and they'll give you a clear-cut answer. It's not even a question for them, it's centerfield."
Stubbs, for his part, says he isn't taking anything for granted. He's certainly got a claim to the centerfield spot, too. He's consistently be healthy since he was the first-round pick of the Reds in 2006 and led the Reds in home runs (5) and stolen bases (7) in September. In 40 starts, he had 15 multi-hit games.
"I'm looking at this spring as, obviously I had a time up and was up there, I still feel like I have a lot to prove," Stubbs said. "I haven't had a full season yet. I'm looking at this as if I have as much to prove as anyone else."
It's Dickerson, though, who is feeling the pressure. And he knows the antidote is simple. "I guess I'll just have to go out and hit .450 this spring," he said.
http://cnati.com/spring-training-201...-in-cf-001356/
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by lollipopcurve
