Number crunching: Dickerson declines Pence’s Rolex offer, hands over No. 8.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The ink on Hunter Pence’s contract was still wet when he bounded into a chalk talk for fans at Oracle Park on Friday wearing a Giants uniform with his familiar No. 8.
Alex Dickerson was there too, also wearing a Giants uniform, but not the No. 8 he had last season. In fact, he wore no number at all.
Pence got his number back and did the honorable thing by offering his potential leftfield platoon mate Dickerson the standard baseball currency for coopting one’s number: a Rolex.
“I will never wear a watch, so I told him not to bother,” Dickerson said as he stood by his locker at Scottsdale Stadium on Tuesday, the official reporting date for pitchers and catchers. Many position players are here, though.
Hanging inside the other lockers were crisp spring training workout jerseys, but not Dickerson’s.
A clubhouse staffer did affix a tiny square of athletic tape above the locker bearing the number 12, which Dickerson wore in high school and college and is expected to wear now that Pence is back — and Joe Panik is gone. Panik wore 12 throughout his fiveplus seasons in San Francisco.
“Until a jersey shows up with my name on it, I’m not saying anything,” Dickerson joked.
Far more important than Dickerson’s uniform is the body it covers.
The 29yearold has not had a full season in the majors because of serious injuries to his back and elbow, which required surgeries, and an oblique injury that prevented him from being the middleorder threat the Giants saw when he arrived from San Diego in June.
Dickerson said he feels healthy, but he is not about to toss out the “best shape of my life” spring training cliche.
He understands his body has been traumatized far too often for someone his age, and he plans to change his routine during his first Giants camp to give himself the best chance of staying on the field all season and surpassing his careerhigh 285 plate appearances.
Dickerson will not be grabbing a bat as soon as he arrives and head to the cage for early work, as most hitters do. He will get to the training table or weight room by 7:15 a.m. to start a threehour preparation for his workday.
He said he went home in September with a workout regimen to loosen his right shoulder, hoping that joint will do more of the work when he swings and take pressure off his side and back.
He also said he needs to be smart in spring training about not doing too much too soon.
Told that manager Gabe Kapler plans to spice up early drills by making them competitive, Dickerson said, “Well, if they’re doing throws home from center field, that won’t be me.”