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"You know we are gonna participate in the Rule 5 Draft."(OF Rickard from Tampa)

weams

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Frobby Hangout Grand Counsel

Frobby

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Last year in this draft, any team could have selected right-hander Mychal Givens. But he was coming off a 2014 season where he struggled with control and no one took him.

http://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2015/12/more-from-dan-duquette-plus-john-manual-on-os-farm-jj-cooper-on-rule-5-draft.html

That would have been a travesty! I hope we'll have another Givens emerge in 2016.

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weams Hangout Grand Counsel

weams

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http://rayscoloredglasses.com/2015/08/11/tampa-bay-rays-mailbag-where-does-joey-rickard-stand-prospect/

Joey Rickard has been one of the best stories in the Rays system this year after a disastrous 2014. To recap how he got to this point, the Rays made Rickard, who notably bats rights while throwing lefty, their ninth round pick in 2012 after he helped Arizona to a College World Series championship, and he played well at Short Season-A in his pro debut. Then, after he kept looking good at Low-A and in the Australian Baseball League in 2013, the Rays decided to promote him aggressively last season, skipping him over High-A to the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits. He had a chance to establish himself as a legitimate prospect, but unfortunately he failed.

In 2014 with the Biscuits, Rickard hit to just a .243/.337/.296 line in 247 plate appearances before an ankle injury ended his season in July. His on-base skills continued to be fine as he walked 28 times against 39 strikeouts, but he couldn’t hit the ball with any authority and that looked like it would be the undoing of his career. It appeared that Rickard was going to be simply an organizational player when the Rays started him not at Double-A but at High-A to start 2015. Repeating a level is bad, but doing back to a previous level usually means that it’s time to give up on a player’s future.

Rickard, though, is turning out to be a major exception to that rule. He rebounded at High-A Charlotte, hitting to a .268/.436/.310 line in 94 plate appearances, and while he still wasn’t hitting for any power, he had shown enough plate discipline (13-20 strikeout to walk ratio) to get back to the Biscuits. He returned with a vengeance, hitting to a .322/.420/.479 line as he added power (19 doubles, 6 triples, and 2 homers) to his on-base skills (42-39 K-BB), and speed (19 steals in 23 attempts). His turnaround was complete when his promoted to Triple-A Durham, and he is 12 for his first 29, a .429 batting average.

There are a lot of great things to say about Rickard, but now it’s time to get realistic about his prospect status. One thing we can say for sure is that Rickard has gone from a nobody back into a player with a big league future. He has come a long way in a span of one year.

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