Dustin Dickerson’s pro baseball journey is over, but his Southern Miss baseball story is not.
On Wednesday night it was announced that former Golden Eagle shortstop and Laurel native who retired from professional baseball last week is returning to Hattiesburg in a player-development role focused on infielders. MiLB lists Dickerson on the voluntarily retired list, with his retirement transaction dated June 24, 2026.
For Southern Miss fans, this is more than a former player coming back to campus. Dickerson was one of the steady faces of the program during one of the strongest stretches in Golden Eagle baseball history. Over four seasons (2020-23), he played in 208 games, hit .311, collected 245 hits, drove in 112 runs, hit 13 home runs, added 60 doubles and posted a .950 fielding percentage.
Dickerson arrived at Southern Miss out of West Jones High School, where he helped deliver the school’s first baseball state championship. The son of Bobby Dickerson, who played college baseball at Nicholls State, spent time in minor league baseball, and is currently the hitting coach with the Philadelphia Phillies, including being on the staff that reached the 2022 World Series.
At Southern Miss, Dickerson became a fan favorite because he was always there. He started all 16 games of the shortened 2020 season, then started all 61 games at shortstop in 2021. In 2022, he hit .320 with 86 hits and 24 doubles, which ranked among the best single-season double totals in school history. By 2023, he had become one of the leaders of the team.
His final season in Hattiesburg was the one fans will remember most. In 2023, Dickerson hit .328 with 88 hits, 21 doubles, three triples, 11 home runs, 52 RBIs, 58 runs scored and 14 stolen bases. He earned first-team All-Sun Belt honors, was named second-team ABCA/Rawlings All-Region, made the Sun Belt All-Tournament team and was named Most Outstanding Player of the Auburn Regional.
That postseason turned him into a Southern Miss legend. After entering 2023 with only two career home runs, Dickerson hit seven homers in the postseason alone, two in the Sun Belt Tournament, four in the Auburn Regional and one against Tennessee in the Hattiesburg Super Regional. His late-season power surge helped Southern Miss win the Auburn Regional as a No. 2 seed and bring a Super Regional back to Pete Taylor Park.
The Kansas City Royals selected Dickerson in the eighth round of the 2023 MLB Draft with the No. 229 overall pick. He then began a pro career that took him through the Royals’ system, including stops with the ACL Royals, Quad Cities River Bandits, Northwest Arkansas Naturals and Omaha Storm Chasers.
His minor league career showed the grinder side of baseball. Across 971 minor league at-bats, Dickerson hit .222 with 216 hits, 10 home runs, 94 RBIs, 140 runs scored, 37 stolen bases, a .344 on-base percentage and a .632 OPS. He reached Triple-A Omaha this season playing in 21 game, but a batting a measly .177. He voluntarily retired on June 24.
Now, instead of trying to climb one more rung in the Royals’ system, Dickerson is coming back to the place where he became a name. For Christian Ostrander’s program, it gives Southern Miss a young coach who knows the culture, knows the standard and knows what it feels like to play meaningful June baseball in Hattiesburg.
Dickerson was never just a stat-line player at Southern Miss. He was the shortstop fans trusted, the local kid from Laurel who turned into a postseason hero, and the kind of player who made Pete Taylor Park feel even more like home.
Now his job is different. He will not be turning double plays or leading off innings anymore. He will be helping the next Southern Miss shortstop learn how to do it. And for a program built on continuity, toughness and player development, Dustin Dickerson coming home feels like a perfect fit.
About The Author
