Corey Dickerson Wins Gold Glove Award

For the third time in four seasons the National League Gold Glove Award for left fielders has been won by a Pirate

In what certainly comes as a surprise, Pittsburgh Pirates’ left fielder Corey Dickerson has won the 2018 National League Gold Glove Award for left fielders. Most people, myself included, expected likely National League MVP, and former Gold Glove Award winner, Christian Yelich to take home the hardware.

This comes after Dickerson spent the previous two seasons primarily serving as the designated hitter for the Tampa Bay Rays. Before that, Dickerson was known as a below average defensive outfielder for the Colorado Rockies.

While Dickerson winning the award was a surprise, he was certainly worthy of the honor.

In 135 games played during the 2018 season, Dickerson led all NL left fielders with eight Outs Above Average. Dickerson also had seven outfield assists which was tied for the second most among NL left fielders, and his +16 defensive runs saved also ranked second among NL left fielders. These were all new career bests for Dickerson.

Dickerson also owned a 3.0 dWAR in 2018. This, like so many other defensive metrics, was a new career high for Dickerson. All of this led to 2018 being the first time in Dickerson’s now six-year MLB career that he rated a plus defender. He deserves a lot of credit for spending last offseason and Spring Training working on his defense. Not only did Dickerson improve as a fielder he did it while playing arguably the toughest left field in all of baseball at PNC Park. The fact he was able to become a Gold Glove fielder, while doing it at PNC Park, is remarkable.

This marks the third time in the past four seasons that a Pittsburgh Pirates’ player took home the NL Gold Glove Award for left fielders. Before being moved to center field, Starling Marte won the award in 2015 and 2016.

Congrats, Corey, on taking home the award!