Baltimore Orioles R&R: Joey Rickard and Garabez Rosa

While the rotation of the Baltimore Orioles continues to underperform and cause great concern, rookies Joey Rickard and Garabez Rosa have been a great spring training surprise.

Again on Sunday it was a game where the Orioles jumped out to a first inning lead, with solo homers by Pedro Alvarez and Nolan Reimold, only to have the starting pitcher immediately give up the advantage. Ubaldo Jimenez did not make it out of the first inning after allowing three runs on four hits and a walk.

The bullpen came in and shut down the Pirates the rest of the way, yielding only three hits in 8.1 innings. Perhaps this is the winning equation for the Orioles — forget starting pitchers and carry a dozen bullpen arms, using about six of them per game.

But winning the game in the ninth inning, breaking the tie score, were back-to-back hits by Rickard and Rosa. Much has been written about the Rule 5 selection Joey Rickard, as he has been truly the star of the spring season for the Orioles. He is now hitting .396 on 21-for-53 with an OBP of .475.  That is more than a small sample and should be enough to get anyone on a 25-man roster.

Related Story: Joey Rickard is a Keeper

But what about this Garabez Rosa character?  Where has he come from?  Right now he is hitting .667 with eight hits in 12 at-bats. And he was 3-for-6 last spring. Apparently he is not intimidated by playing on the major league field.

Rosa is age 26 and listed as 6’2’ and 166 pounds. An infielder from the Dominican Republic, his career minor league numbers are not quite as impressive as his brief spring training appearances. In 899 games, he has a .259 average, never having played higher than the AA level at Bowie (other than four games last year at Norfolk). And he is not a high OBP player either, never having been over .300.  But he likes playing baseball in Florida in April.

The Hyun Soo Kim Situation

Switching subjects, what is to become this week of Korean outfielder Hyun Soo Kim?  It certainly appears to be more than merely smoke that the Orioles have given consideration to an arrangement for him to return to Korea.

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Much has been made of his 0-for-23 start in spring training. But since then he has been 8-for-19.

It may prove to be the best situation to save the $7 million by working out a deal back in Korea. But my guess is that Kim would have eventually — maybe even quickly — figured out how to play successfully here in the USA.

In what was surely an awkward interview process with the O’s beat writers, Kim commented that he had no real knowledge of any ongoing discussions, commenting further that it has been a challenge to adjust to hitting pitchers he has not seen nor does he know what they really throw.

Let me ask it this way: Why should we expect a player in Kim’s position to have any significant measure of success in the early going? Not only is there the adjustment to the game in a different place, there are all of the other cultural differences to navigate. None of this is insurmountable at all, though putting it together immediately is expecting quite a lot, even of a talented athlete.

This is not to say that I necessarily believe sending Kim back to Asia is a wrong move, thus counting on some combination of Rickard, Reimold, etc. to carry duties in left field. I am just stating the belief that it would have eventually worked out to have a decent MLB player in Hyun Soo Kim with the Orioles this year and next. And that may yet happen.

Rickard certainly looks great and appears to be the real deal. His star is rising fast, that is for sure. The minor league numbers from last year are legit and give additional foundation to the validity of this spring season. Yet at the same time, MLB scouts are going to put a book together on him, and he will have to make adjustments. That will be the critical time that determines if he has a potentially bigger and long-term standing with the Orioles.