McComb, Mississippi might only have a population of about 13,000 people, but that hasn’t stopped the small town from producing its fair share of Major League Baseball players. This includes Jarrod Dyson, Matt Tolbert, and, maybe most notably, Corey Dickerson, who spent about a decade in the big leagues. The Colorado Rockies, Tampa Bay Rays, Philadelphia Phillies, Miami Marlins, and Toronto Blue Jays were just a few of the Corey Dickerson teams between 2013 and 2023.

How did Corey Dickerson’s story begin? It all started at Brookhaven Academy, a small prep school in Lincoln County, Mississippi, with only 400 students. Dickerson took a chance on himself by playing baseball, football, and basketball at Brookhaven, just as you can bet on the MLB teams he played for. Guides like this DraftKings sportsbook review can help fans make informed decisions when they join in on the action.

Dickerson’s big break, if you want to call it that, came during his junior year at Brookhaven when he sustained a shoulder injury. It forced him to move from shortstop to the outfield, where he would start to get plenty of reps and eventually transform himself into an elite center fielder.

He would go on to set home run, batting average, and RBI records at Brookhaven, which led to him scoring a full scholarship to Meridian Community College in Meridian, Mississippi. He continued to excel in baseball and played so well for Meridian that the Rockies selected him in the 29th round of the 2009 MLB June Amateur Draft.

Dickerson chose not to sign with the Rockies after they picked him in the 2009 draft, but Colorado kept pursuing him by selecting him again in the 2010 MLB Draft, this time in the eighth round. He worked his way through the Rockies’ farm system, and in June 2013, he was promoted to the major leagues.

Over the next decade, Corey Dickerson’s stats were impressive and he already had a lot of success as he assembled a .280 batting average, hit 136 home runs, and racked up 469 RBIs throughout his career. The Corey Dickerson MLB All-Star team appearance in 2017 while with the Rays and his Gold Glove Award in 2018 while with the Pirates were his two most noteworthy accomplishments.

Dickerson also earned quite a bit of money as an MLB player. The two-year, $17.5 million contract he signed with the Marlins, in particular, sent his net worth skyrocketing. That’s not bad at all for a guy who signed a relatively modest $125,000 signing bonus with the Rockies back in 2010.

Dickerson hasn’t suited up for an MLB team since the Washington Nationals released him in August 2023, just eight months after inking him to a one-year, $2.25 million deal. But it’s still safe to say his journey from Brookhaven to the big leagues was a massive success.