Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
This isn’t the first abbreviated rehab assignment Alex Dickerson has experienced this season. Though, he hopes it ends better than his last.
The Giants outfielder, who was activated from the IL prior to Wednesday’s 9-5 loss to the A’s at Oracle Park, expressed confidence he doesn’t need more than the four plate appearances he had Tuesday at Triple-A Sacramento to find a groove.
He pinch-hit in the eighth and had an RBI groundout.
“Felt good,” Dickerson said. “Didn’t feel like I missed much, timing or anything. Felt like a typical AB.”
Dickerson hurt his wrist while with San Diego and returned for two Triple-A El Paso rehab games, soon after which he was DFA’d and ended up with the Giants.
Still, his experience with getting up to speed in a flash helps him believe he won’t have trouble contributing to the Giants immediately.
“I don’t have a swing that has a lot of moving parts. Timing, I can get away with being a little off time,” said Dickerson, who was slashing .386/.449/.773 with the Giants in 30 games before his oblique sent him to the IL. “It’s nothing I really worry about. Once I feel I can pull off my ‘A’ swing, I think I can get in there and compete.”
He felt normal in his groundout to second, saying he felt no pull from his oblique. If the Giants want to hang in a wild-card race in which they have fallen to four games out, he will need to be the spark that he was in June and July.
“As soon as I feel like I can compete,” Dickerson said, “It’s more of a mentality thing than a reps thing at that point.”