Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Alex Dickerson suggested he came back too soon from his right oblique injury, saying the strain “has never really gone all the way away.”
He also said he’s racing to return from that same strain because time is running out.
The Giants left fielder never looked right upon his return — the late June and July burst of offensive power for the Giants has gone 7-for-45 (.156) without a homer since coming off the injured list — and during his second-to-last at-bat in St. Louis on Sept. 3, in which he struck out flailing at an outside curveball, “It definitely hurt more.” Dickerson could be seen grimacing as he completed the swing.
The Giants sent him from Los Angeles to San Francisco on Saturday to get a cortisone shot. He threw Monday, and the biggest test of swinging will be Tuesday. He admitted he likely won’t be 100 percent if and when he gets more at-bats this season.
“There’s only a few weeks left in the season. Time’s not on my side,” Dickerson told KNBR on Monday after the Giants’ 6-4 loss to the Pirates at Oracle Park. “All the scans and stuff have shown up clean. There’s obviously something going on because I’m feeling something. Just gotta get to a manageable level and just push through it at this point.”
The oblique kept him out from July 30-Aug. 14, an injury he said is “a new one” for him. He already has dealt with (an unrelated) back surgery that wiped out his 2017 season and Tommy John surgery that erased his 2018 campaign. His injury history is what made him available to Farhan Zaidi’s Giants in the first place, and his bat — when healthy — has been a middle-of-the-lineup force.
Which is why his mid-to-late August stuck out.
“I came back pretty quick from it, as far as these go. If I do it over again, maybe I wait a little bit longer to get back,” said Dickerson, whom the Giants would like to see play again this season to help them decide if he can be counted on next year. “But I wanted to push myself to get back out there. Still dealing with it right now. Hopefully [the cortisone shot] pushes it in the right direction.”
He said he won’t know whether the injection worked until he actually starts swinging, and he “absolutely” wants to return this season. Bruce Bochy said, “It’s probably going to be a couple more days, I’m guessing.”
There is a lot of guessing with Dickerson, who said the strain will inform his offseason.
“Once I get rest, it’ll clear up for the most part,” the 29-year-old said. “… I’ll definitely move around and take a template of everything I’ve learned this year about my body after not playing for two years and see how I can prepare differently, add things to my offseason routine, see if I can prevent things like this from happening next year.”
