Cody Glenn-USA TODAY Sports
The Giants have preached progress, of incremental improvements that slowly turn fringe players into role players, role players into something more.
Alex Dickerson is on a different timeline.
On a team that features so many established veterans trying to prove they’re not finished and so many inexperienced call-ups trying to prove they belong, Dickerson is a rare third category. He’ll turn 30 in May and enters the season having played just about a full season — 163 games — since he debuted in 2015. The numbers reflect the reality that he can hit, a career .264/.331/.464 left fielder with 16 home runs and a 2019 run that hinted at much more.
And the numbers reflect the reality that he can’t stay upright, large gaps in the 2017 and ’18 seasons that were missed due to injury, a 2019 campaign that made him a cult hero but not a definite keeper in San Francisco.
2020 will be about a lot of things to the Giants, and discovering whether they have a dependable left fielder is on the list. This is not lost on Dickerson.
“I’m fully aware of how important it is and the kind of opportunity I have,” Dickerson said recently over the phone. “You do always keep that in mind. But really, you’re focused on day to day. What can I do today to feel better and feel good going into the next day? In this game, the one thing I learned is you don’t look too far ahead. If you try to get hung up on what my numbers will look like, what I’ll need for the contract negotiations in the future, that is when you start driving yourself nuts.”
For Dickerson, a crossroads season is already off to a good start. Unlike 2017, when back surgery arose, and ’18, when he needed Tommy John surgery, and last season, when his oblique began barking, he feels OK. After taking a couple weeks off following the end of the season, he began working with a physical therapist and strength coach seeking the right formula to get healthy and stay healthy.
While his body feels right, it’s a tricky, living and breathing process. When his oblique tightened on him during his breakout season with the Giants, he had to try to work oblique stretches into a routine that has been building for years. His body has become a game of whack of mole, saying it’s taking him about 45 minutes to get himself ready these days.
He said his hip got tight recently when he began doing sprints, so the routine got altered for more care to that area.
“It’s really simple, but at the same time you’ve got to stay on top of it,” said Dickerson, who slashed .290/.351/.529 in 56 games last season. “I’ve got it pretty much under control. It’s more reactionary now when something new pops up. As long as it’s nothing serious, it’s just adjusting.”
For someone who’s been dealing with ailments since he was a 15-year-old high schooler, Dickerson regards the pulls and strains and concerns with a shrug. As much as he knows the importance of next season, in which he’ll be making $925,000 after he and the team avoided arbitration, he was hesitant to put goals on the table.
“I really try to live in the moment,” said Dickerson, who spoke from his home in Southern California. “Especially when baseball has been taken away from you a couple times — you take the positive from each day.”
Dickerson will be among the many projects for the new-age and young-age Giants staff. He, too, got some texts from Gabe Kapler upon the manager’s hire, and Dickerson spoke optimistically about the new leader, whom he wants to give a clean slate.
Dickerson is six months older than one of his hitting coaches (Justin Viele) and four years younger than his other (Donnie Ecker). At the time Dickerson spoke, only Ecker was known to be on the staff.
“It’s definitely the closest age I’ve ever heard of,” Dickerson said. “But everyone’s got something to offer. You’re learning new stuff on a daily basis.”
In the offseason, Dickerson seems to still be learning something new about his body on a daily basis. The adjustments will keep coming, from back to oblique to bat, as he embarks on a season that could make him or break him.