Prospects on the Move: Alex Dickerson to the San Diego Padres
By Jay Blue
Aug 18, 2013; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Padres left fielder Jaff Decker (1) flies out with the bases loaded to end the eighth inning against the New York Mets at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
The Pittsburgh Pirates and the San Diego Padres made a fairly unusual trade for this offseason: they traded young, unestablished players for each other.
On November 25, the Pirates announced that they traded 23 year old outfielder Alex Dickerson to the Padres for 23 year old outfielder Jaff Decker and 25 year old right-handed relief pitcher Miles Mikolas. While neither Decker nor Mikolas crack MLB.com’s Top 20 prospects for their new team in Pittsburgh, Dickerson lines up at #11 thanks to Jonathan Mayo’s list of Padres’ top prospects, making him the biggest name prospect in this trade.
Dickerson’s numbers:
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/7/2013.
Dickerson, drafted out of Indiana University-Bloomington in the 3rd round of the 2011 draft, was considered to be an advanced bat early on and has definitely made good on that promise. He had an outstanding season in 2011 in short-season ball, hitting .313/.398/.493 for State College in the New York-Penn League and followed that up with a Florida State League Player of the year, putting up an .803 OPS (which worked out to an 127 wRC+) in 2012.
This season, Dickerson put up some great numbers in Double-A with a 126 wRC+, hitting 17 home runs in the Eastern League. He has shown some drops in walk percentage over his three seasons of pro ball as he’s moved up the ranks but his strikeout numbers haven’t gone up by too much (under 2%). His numbers showed a lack of power in the Arizona Fall League but if he’s playing in Tuscon for the Padres in the Pacific Coast League, Dickerson could put up some huge numbers in 2014.
On the other side, the Pirates get Jaff Decker who had been designated for assignment after a major league cup of coffee in September. Decker wasn’t really in the long term plans for the Padres and they were looking to clear space on the 40-man roster and ended up sending him to Pittsburgh (along with Mikolas).
Decker’s numbers:
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | Lev | Aff | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 18 | 2 Teams | 2 Lgs | Rk-A- | SDP | 52 | 228 | 169 | 53 | 58 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 34 | 9 | 1 | 57 | 41 | .343 | .513 | .521 | 1.034 |
| 2008 | 18 | Padres | ARIZ | Rk | SDP | 49 | 216 | 159 | 51 | 56 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 34 | 9 | 1 | 55 | 36 | .352 | .523 | .541 | 1.064 |
| 2008 | 18 | Eugene | NORW | A- | SDP | 3 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | .200 | .333 | .200 | .533 |
| 2009 | 19 | Fort Wayne | MIDW | A | SDP | 104 | 455 | 358 | 78 | 107 | 25 | 2 | 16 | 64 | 10 | 6 | 85 | 92 | .299 | .442 | .514 | .956 |
| 2010 | 20 | Lake Elsinore | CALL | A+ | SDP | 79 | 348 | 290 | 53 | 76 | 14 | 2 | 17 | 58 | 5 | 4 | 47 | 80 | .262 | .374 | .500 | .874 |
| 2011 | 21 | San Antonio | TL | AA | SDP | 133 | 613 | 496 | 90 | 117 | 29 | 2 | 19 | 92 | 15 | 5 | 103 | 145 | .236 | .373 | .417 | .790 |
| 2012 | 22 | 2 Teams | 2 Lgs | AA-Rk | SDP | 56 | 223 | 174 | 35 | 35 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 6 | 2 | 44 | 40 | .201 | .369 | .339 | .708 |
| 2012 | 22 | Padres | ARIZ | Rk | SDP | 9 | 33 | 27 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | .296 | .394 | .593 | .987 |
| 2012 | 22 | San Antonio | TL | AA | SDP | 47 | 190 | 147 | 30 | 27 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 40 | 37 | .184 | .365 | .293 | .658 |
| 2013 | 23 | Tucson | PCL | AAA | SDP | 105 | 415 | 350 | 63 | 100 | 23 | 1 | 10 | 40 | 4 | 6 | 55 | 94 | .286 | .381 | .443 | .824 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/7/2013.
Decker stands to compete with Travis Snider for a major league role in 2014 and had an excellent 2013 in Triple-A Tuscon that saw him post a .381 OBP and 121 wRC+. Decker has better patience than Snider but doesn’t seem to have the power potential that Snider has. The final piece in the deal, Mikolas, is a 6’5″ righty who doesn’t strike out a lot of batters but has had good numbers in Triple-A.
Mikolas’s numbers:
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | Lev | Aff | W | L | W-L% | ERA | G | GS | GF | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | IBB | SO | HBP | WP | WHIP | H/9 | HR/9 | BB/9 | SO/9 | SO/BB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 20 | Eugene | NORW | A- | SDP | 1 | 8 | .111 | 5.94 | 15 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 53.0 | 77 | 47 | 35 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 39 | 5 | 3 | 1.623 | 13.1 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 6.6 | 4.33 |
| 2010 | 21 | Fort Wayne | MIDW | A | SDP | 6 | 3 | .667 | 2.20 | 60 | 0 | 30 | 13 | 81.2 | 76 | 27 | 20 | 3 | 15 | 2 | 78 | 0 | 6 | 1.114 | 8.4 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 8.6 | 5.20 |
| 2011 | 22 | 2 Teams | 2 Lgs | A+-AA | SDP | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.38 | 62 | 0 | 50 | 21 | 72.0 | 60 | 11 | 11 | 1 | 15 | 2 | 69 | 3 | 1 | 1.042 | 7.5 | 0.1 | 1.9 | 8.6 | 4.60 |
| 2011 | 22 | Lake Elsinore | CALL | A+ | SDP | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.13 | 34 | 0 | 30 | 12 | 39.2 | 31 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 42 | 3 | 0 | 1.008 | 7.0 | 0.2 | 2.0 | 9.5 | 4.67 |
| 2011 | 22 | San Antonio | TL | AA | SDP | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.67 | 28 | 0 | 20 | 9 | 32.1 | 29 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 1 | 1.082 | 8.1 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 7.5 | 4.50 |
| 2012 | 23 | 2 Teams | 2 Lgs | AAA-AA | SDP | 3 | 2 | .600 | 3.09 | 29 | 0 | 16 | 4 | 32.0 | 36 | 14 | 11 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 2 | 1.469 | 10.1 | 0.3 | 3.1 | 7.9 | 2.55 |
| 2012 | 23 | San Antonio | TL | AA | SDP | 1 | 1 | .500 | 2.92 | 12 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 12.1 | 16 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1.541 | 11.7 | 0.0 | 2.2 | 8.0 | 3.67 |
| 2012 | 23 | Tucson | PCL | AAA | SDP | 2 | 1 | .667 | 3.20 | 17 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 19.2 | 20 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 1.424 | 9.2 | 0.5 | 3.7 | 7.8 | 2.13 |
| 2013 | 24 | Tucson | PCL | AAA | SDP | 4 | 2 | .667 | 3.25 | 54 | 0 | 50 | 26 | 61.0 | 62 | 25 | 22 | 6 | 17 | 1 | 40 | 0 | 3 | 1.295 | 9.1 | 0.9 | 2.5 | 5.9 | 2.35 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/7/2013.
Who do you think got the better end of this deal?