Injury may have been just what the doctor ordered for St. Louis Cardinals’ Dickerson

No baseball player ever wants to be injured, but in the case of Cardinals outfielder Corey Dickerson, a particularly timed calf strain may well be the only thing that kept him on the club’s roster — and, as a result, has the potential to be a point of demarcation in his search to turn his season around.

The struggles of the players brought in by the Cardinals from outside the organization this offseason have been well documented. By Baseball Reference’s wins above replacement metric, only minor league free agent James Naile and waiver claim Packy Naughton have returned positive value — each has a WAR of 0.2.

Dickerson, at -0.4 entering Tuesday’s series opener against the Dodgers, has been the least productive of the new position players, even as he continues to be the best paid. Signed to a one year, $5 million deal during spring training, Dickerson seemed destined to act as the left-handed half of a platoon at designated hitter while also occasionally spelling Dylan Carlson and Tyler O’Neill in the corner outfield.

Unfortunately for both team and player, he just didn’t hit.

“I think it’s just your mindset going into it,” Dickerson said Monday after driving his first homer at Busch Stadium as a Cardinal. “You can’t play this game with other people’s expectations. All you can do is go out there and do your best to make sure you take care of everything ahead of time.”

That preparation was made more challenging, he said, by feeling slightly mechanically off, and then also feeling the pressure of the need to produce for a new team.

“It’s hard because I signed here to be able to contribute and help the team,” he admitted. “I wasn’t really having a lot of fun at the beginning, and trying to find it and things like that.”

When the club arrived in Chicago in early June, Dickerson said he was beginning to feel in sync with his swing in a way he hadn’t in, by his estimation, two years. Some of his cautious optimism was paid off by hitting his first two homers of the season (one against a position player pitching) in a 14-5 Redbirds rout June 3.

Injury a blessing in disguise?

The next day, before the bottom of the second inning in the first game of a doubleheader, he took a step out of the dugout to head out to right field, and he felt a pull in his left calf. A quick attempt to run made it clear whatever misstep he’d taken had done serious damage, and after a setback while rehabbing at Triple-A Memphis, he would miss more than a month.

It was, by his own estimation, as well timed as a missed month could be.

“It just ... didn’t feel like a great situation for me,” Dickerson said of his time with the Cardinals prior to his injury. “And then stepping back was rather freeing for me. I learned a lot. I felt like I needed that. I felt like I had a different perspective during it.”

Rather than hammering his own performance, Dickerson leaned on his teammates. He spent time in the dugout and in the cages digging into their performances and offering the wisdom and experience he developed over his own decade in the majors. All the while, young players like Brendan Donovan, Nolan Gorman and Juan Yepez solidified themselves as regulars, clouding Dickerson’s future in St. Louis.

It’s complicated

Indeed, if not for simultaneous injuries to Harrison Bader (plantar fasciitis) and O’Neill (strained hamstring, wrist contusion), Dickerson’s return might have been a great deal more complicated.

The financial commitment from the club certainly helps to buy him time, but even that doesn’t come without its own price. Both player and team have been open about the necessity of production if he is to finally establish a hold on the role for which he was originally envisioned.

“There’s a sense of — call it what you want — just pressing a little bit, wanting to impress and show that he belongs and that he can contribute to this club,” manager Oliver Marmol said Saturday when Dickerson was activated from the IL. “It’s not out of character for people to want to do that. But I think being away for a little bit, hopefully he can come back and relax, know he belongs, and contribute.

“We didn’t need just a body,” Marmol added after Monday’s game. “We needed him to come in and produce, and some of the swings he’s taken are strong.”

What’s next?

O’Neill could yet return before the All-Star break. Bader, likely some time shortly thereafter. Even with a short runway and ticking clock, the best thing for both Dickerson and the Cardinals would be for his quick resurgence to become something lasting, and for an as-of-yet uncertain turnaround to be more material than mirage.

“I feel like I kind of found myself,” Dickerson said with evident relief. “Let’s just see it through.”