Ok, so I have seen people say that Chris Dickerson should be promoted to replace Corey Patterson, so, as a Louisville Bats fan, I thought I would share my thoughts and analysis of Dickerson.

Defense: Dickerson is defensively ready for the majors. Last night he ended the game with an amazing catch, and two nights before that, he finished the 1st inning with two consecutive amazing catches.

Offense: If batting average was all that counted, Dickerson would be ready. After a bad start to the year, Dickerson has hit .310 since the start of June. However, with the current outfield, the batting average is not all that counts. Dickerson would be primarily used as a defensive replacement and pinch hitter. Dickerson's downfall is the strike out, which is exactly what you <em>don't</em> want in a pinch hitter. Let's compare Dickerson's batting average and strikeout average:

April: .241 BAVG, .313 SOAVG, 83 AB
May: .234 BAVG, .250 SOAVG, 64 AB
June: .301 BAVG, .273 SOAVG, 73 AB
July: .319 BAVG, .319 SOAVG,  69 AB so far

By looking at that, it seems that while he has been working on his hitting, he has been striking out more and more since May. But how much more? Lets see what percent of his outs are strikeouts:

April: .412
May: .326
June: .392
July: .468

Looking at these numbers makes me think that his batting average increase is caused not by improving his swing, and his eye for the ball, but by swinging a lot more. Of course, he has been walking a lot more, which might contradict this, but I think that he needs to develop a better eye for the ball while at the plate, before he can succeed at the MLB level.

As a final comment, compare Dickerson's and Patterson's SO/OUT avg for this year:

Dickerson: .290, 289 AB

Patterson: .154, 200 AB

The point: Patterson may not be able to hit the ball, but would Dickerson do any better against Major League pitching? At least Patterson does not strike out as much, which means more runners are advanced.