Former Padres Outfielder Suddenly Retires at 36

The Poway native spent parts of six seasons in the Padres organization.

San Diego Padres third baseman Yangervis Solarte (26) slaps hands with left fielder Alex Dickerson (1) and right fielder Matt Kemp (27) after hitting a solo home run during the fourth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It's been seven years since Poway native Alex Dickerson last played for his hometown team. It's been four years since he played a major league game for anyone.

Yet the veteran was still hanging on in independent ball, roaming the outfield for the High Point (N.C.) Rockers of the Atlantic League. That changed Monday, when Dickerson suddenly retired, according to an Instagram post by his wife, Jen.

"Happy retirement, my love," Jen Dickerson wrote. "Thank you for letting me tag along. You have so much to be proud of."

Dickerson, 36, was a third-round draft pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates out of the University of Indiana. He took a long road to the big leagues, catalyzed by a November 2013 trade to the Padres that sent Miles Mikolas and Jaff Decker to Pittsburgh.

Dickerson was hitting .307 at Triple-A El Paso in August 2015 when he was promoted to the majors for the first time. Although his first cup of coffee was limited to pinch-hitting appearances on back-to-back nights, it resulted in his first major league hit: a single in the 11th inning of a game against the Philadelphia Phillies' Hector Neris at Petco Park.

Yesterday, Alex Dickerson hit the 5th deck with a monster shot.

20 yrs ago to the day, Big Mac hit the same deck! pic.twitter.com/AOz1AiaZiH

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) July 26, 2016

Dickerson played 84 games the following year on a 94-loss Padres team, slashing .257/.333/.455 (112 OPS+) in a fourth outfielder role.

Injuries to Dickerson's back and elbow wiped out all of his 2017 and 2018 seasons, respectively. Although he made it back to the big leagues with the Padres in 2019, Dickerson's time in the organization was short-lived.

The Padres traded Dickerson to the San Francisco Giants in June 2019 for pitcher Franklin Van Gurp. While Van Gurp never made it past advanced Class-A with the Padres, Dickerson went on to play some of the best seasons of his career in San Francisco.

From 2019-21, Dickerson played 653 games with the Giants and produced an .823 OPS (120 OPS+). He was one of many surprise performers on the Giants' shocking 107-win team in 2021, when he set career highs in games (111), plate appearances (312), homers (10) and RBIs (38).

Dickerson appeared in only 13 more MLB games, with the Atlanta Braves in 2022. He continued playing in independent baseball, Mexico, Japan and Puerto Rico, even appearing for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

In 41 games with the Rockers this season, Dickerson hit .278 with eight home runs and 34 RBIs.

"Looking back, I’m grateful the story wasn’t a straight line," Jen Dickerson wrote on Instagram. "Every detour became another adventure, another city, another country, another story we’ll tell for the rest of our lives. It wasn’t always the fairytale people picture, but I have a hard time believing anyone had a more interesting ride than we did."

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