How will Corey Dickerson’s power translate to PNC Park?

How will the newly acquired Corey Dickerson’s power translate to PNC Park in 2018 and beyond?

Last week the Pittsburgh Pirates made their biggest move of the offseason when they acquired All-Star outfielder Corey Dickerson from the Tampa Bay Rays. In exchange for Dickerson the Pirates sent the Rays reliever Daniel Hudson, prospect Tristan Gray, and $1 million in cash considerations.

Throughout his five year Major League career Corey Dickerson has been known as a power hitter. In 563 games played Dickerson owns a .504 slugging percentage, an ISO of .224, and 237 extra base hits (once every 8.2 at bats). As Dickerson’s prepares to begin his first season as a Pirate the question is how will the left-handed hitting slugger’s power translate to PNC Park?

On the surface, it would appear that Corey Dickerson is a great fit for PNC Park. Dickerson is a left-handed hitter that pulls the ball 33.3 percent of the time. If Dickerson continues to pull the ball once he begins playing his home games in Pittsburgh, he should be able to take advantage of a ballpark built for left-handed hitting pull hitters.

It is only 321 feet to the Clemente Wall in right field. This is a short porch that Dickerson should be able to exploit.

As this graph from Baseball Savant shows, Corey Dickerson hit 29 balls last season that would have been home runs at PNC Park. He hit an additional 15 that would have made it to at least the wall in the PNC Park outfield.

This would have given Dickerson 44 extra base hits at PNC Park alone in 2017. When things were all said and done in 2017 he had 64 extra base hits, 27 of which were home runs.

Using a player’s spray chart and laying it over a selected ballpark is far from a perfect science. That said, it is still a good indicator of how a player should perform at a certain ballpark and for Corey Dickerson it appears his power will transition perfectly to PNC Park.

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It appears that Corey Dickerson will be a perfect fit for PNC Park. As long as he can duplicate the swing and contact results he had in 2017, Dickerson should rake at PNC Park this season giving the Pirate lineup a huge power boost it desperately needs.