Brandon Dixon (baseball)


Brandon Allen Dixon is an American professional baseball infielder and outfielder in the Detroit Tigers organization. He previously played in the Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Reds.

Career

Amateur career

Dixon attended Murrieta Valley High School in Murrieta, California where he played high-school baseball alongside Patrick Wisdom, before enrolling at the University of Arizona and playing college baseball for the Arizona Wildcats in the Pacific-12 Conference. After playing sparingly as a freshman, Dixon appeared in 62 games during the 2012 season during which the team won the College World Series. In his junior season, Dixon led the Pac-12 Conference both with a.369 batting average and 30 stolen bases and was named a third-team Louisville Slugger All-American.

Los Angeles Dodgers organization

After his junior season at Arizona, Dixon was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third round of the 2013 MLB draft. He signed and spent 2013 with the Class-A Great Lakes Loons where he slashed.185/.227/.261 with one home run and 17 RBIs in 59 games. In 2014, he played for the Class-A Advanced Rancho Cucamonga Quakes compiling a.262 batting average with nine home runs and 46 RBIs in 94 games, and in 2015, he played for both the Quakes and Double-A Tulsa Drillers, batting.263 with 19 home runs, 68 RBIs, and 26 stolen bases in 128 games between the two teams.

Cincinnati Reds

On December 16, 2015, Dixon was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in a three team trade that sent Frankie Montas, Micah Johnson and Trayce Thompson to the Dodgers and Todd Frazier to the Chicago White Sox. He spent 2016 with the Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos where he slashed.260/.315/.434 with 16 home runs and 65 RBIs in 118 games, and 2017 with the Triple-A Louisville Bats where he collected a.264 batting average with 16 home runs, 64 RBIs, and a.783 OPS in 124 games.
Dixon was called up to the majors for the first time on May 22, 2018. On May 24 he collected his first three major league hits, going on to play in 74 games for the Reds during the 2018 season at six different defensive positions, in addition to two appearances as a pitcher. He batted.178/.218/.356 in 118 at bats and was recorded as having the fastest base-running sprint speed of all major league first basemen, at 28.9 feet/second.

Detroit Tigers

Dixon was claimed off waivers by the Detroit Tigers on November 2, 2018. He began the 2019 season with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens before being promoted to the major leagues on April 18. In a May 5 game against the Kansas City Royals, Dixon hit a tenth-inning, walk-off three-run homer to give the Tigers a 5–2 victory. Dixon finished 2019 with a.248 average, 52 RBI and a team-leading 15 home runs in 391 major league at-bats. He had the fastest sprint speed of all major league first basemen, at 28.5 feet/second. On December 21, 2019, Dixon was designated for assignment by the Tigers to make room on the 40-man roster for two free agent signings. He cleared waivers and was outrighted to the Toledo Mud Hens on January 8.