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Baltimore Orioles: Joey Rickard Looks Like a Keeper

By Randy Buchman

Mar 8, 2016; Sarasota, FL, USA; Baltimore Orioles center fielder Joey Rickard (23) singles during the second inning against the Boston Red Sox at Ed Smith Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 8, 2016; Sarasota, FL, USA; Baltimore Orioles center fielder Joey Rickard (23) singles during the second inning against the Boston Red Sox at Ed Smith Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
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Baltimore Orioles Rule 5 Draftee Joey Rickard has been enjoying a fine spring season and looks to be every bit worth the investment in keeping him on the roster.

The Orioles have sometimes been criticized for their penchant for Rule 5 draft players, as they take up a place on the active roster that could be used by a more advanced and polished player. It is especially risky for a playoffs-contending team to do this.

Most years, the Orioles have needed to keep a pitcher as the draftee. This is even more difficult to do than with a position player. But the risk seems to be paying off for getting T.J. McFarland through this means, and the future may yet reward the Orioles with success from Jason Garcia.

If Rickard is able to sustain this performance throughout the rest of the spring, he will surely be in Baltimore on April 4th.  Currently he is hitting .314 on 11-for-35, including his first home run yesterday.

Wednesday’s 9-3 win over the Pirates was the first game I have been able to watch during the spring, and it was interesting especially to see Rickard play. He has a beautiful swing, good athleticism, along with that innate ability to immediately get a jump on a fly ball to take the shortest path to the spot it will land.

By reminder again about his background, the soon-to-be 25-year-old Nevada native was a ninth-round pick of the Rays in 2012 out of the University of Arizona. Rickard’s career minor league batting average is .283 with a .390 OBP.  In three levels of the minors last year (high A / AA / AAA), it was .321/.427 and got better the higher he went.

Why the Rays would leave Rickard unprotected is as confusing as why the Orioles let Andrew Triggs get away a couple of days ago! But that’s another story.

Wednesday’s game was interesting to watch, and even when the O’s were not scoring in the first half of the game, and even though Kevin Gausman gave up three runs, it looked better to the eye than it does in the box score. Gausman appeared fairly sharp, and the Pirates’ starter had some nasty stuff working for him in his four innings (including the ump working with him, or him with the ump).

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Actually, this game may be illustrative of the sort of contest we will see a lot in 2016. The Orioles’ starter was OK, and then the bullpen came along and shut down the other team the rest of the way. And whereas the Orioles struck out a total of 15 times in only eight innings, they also scored seven runs on three homers (including three-run shots by Christian Walker and Jonathan Schoop). That formula will work!

Schoop is simply having a great spring, and I continue to anticipate a breakout season from him. It would seem that he should surely be moved up in the lineup and not have to languish in the eight or nine hole. J.J. Hardy should own the ninth spot, unless Buck wants to begin Hyun Soo Kim’s USA career there. Schoop deserves to also hit ahead of either catcher … so sixth or seventh in the lineup would be appropriate.

Gosh it was great to see a real baseball game!

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