Rickard?

[pastorfan]

Who on our team' date=' do you like over him? Reimold? Kim?[/quote']

IF Rickard is the starting left fielder, then I wonder how that impacts the bench. If he is does not start, then he is the defensive replacement for Trumbo late in games. IF he starts, then you need someone to fill that role, bc Reimold nor Kim are good defensive OF's.

[Aristotelian]

IF Rickard is the starting left fielder, then I wonder how that impacts the bench. If he is does not start, then he is the defensive replacement for Trumbo late in games. IF he starts, then you need someone to fill that role, bc Reimold nor Kim are good defensive OF's.

If Rickard starts, you have Kim to pinch hit for Rickard and Reimold to come in defensively for Trumbo. If AJ comes out of a blowout, you shift Rickard to CF.

[Diehard_O's_Fan]

IF Rickard is the starting left fielder, then I wonder how that impacts the bench. If he is does not start, then he is the defensive replacement for Trumbo late in games. IF he starts, then you need someone to fill that role, bc Reimold nor Kim are good defensive OF's.

I think Kim will for sure be the starting left fielder atleast to start the season. Dan recently came out and voiced his support for Kim. Dan said that the Orioles need Kim's left hand bat in the lineup. Is Rickard left or right handed? I love Rickard but his best role is probably off the bench. He is probably going to be the Orioles best rule 5 pick ever. He shows so much promise.

[Bahama O's Fan]

I think Kim will for sure be the starting left fielder atleast to start the season. Dan recently came out and voiced his support for Kim. Dan said that the Orioles need Kim's left hand bat in the lineup. Is Rickard left or right handed? I love Rickard but his best role is probably off the bench. He is probably going to be the Orioles best rule 5 pick ever. He shows so much promise.

Bats right, throws left. Weird. Isn't Kim a lefty?

[OFFNY]

Bats right' date=' throws left. Weird.[/color'] Isn't Kim a lefty?

Cleon Jones did that, also.

The reason why he did it was because when he was a kid playing sandlot baseball, they only had enough kids for about 5 or 6 players on each team. Subsequently, since almost everybody that was playing was right-handed, the far right 1/3 of the field was considered foul territory. Jones, simply trying to adapt to the conditions, started batting an unnatural right-handed so as not to continually hit foul balls, which he likely would have done had he batted from his natural left-handed stance.

Eventually, batting right-handed became second nature to him, and it stuck.

Strange, but true.

[Frobby]

H

Richard has a career minor league ISO of .114. Everybody is talking about the great season he had last year but he still only had an ISO of .126. It's almost a certainly that his ISO in the majors will be well below .100. He'll probably need to hit at least .290 to even have an OPS above .750. Basically, he has no business competing for a corner OF spot on a major league team.

The average OPS in LF last year was .730. If Rickard can post .700 with plus defense, then he has business competing for the starting LF job. I have no idea whether he can do that or not, but he certainly hasn't disqualified himself this spring.

I remember the first spring game I saw David Lough play. He got several very good fastballs in hittable locations, and he just couldn't handle them. As time went on, I saw that he wasn't very patient, he kept hitting soft fly balls to the outfield rather than slashing at the ball and using his speed, and he wasn't a good base stealer despite his speed. The bar is pretty low for Rickard to be a better hitter and overall offensive player than Lough. At a minimum, the guy seems to understand who he is. I wish him good luck.

[TINSTAAPP]

Who on our team' date=' do you like over him? Reimold? Kim?[/quote']

Yes. I would take Kim over him. I see Rickard putting up similar stats to David Lough's numbers in 2014 (.690ish OPS). If the Orioles utilize Rickard the way they used Lough in 2014, they'll be fine. But giving him 400+ plate appearances is asking too much from him.

[El Gordo]

What matters with Rickard is his OBP, not his overall OPS. If he gets on base and scores runs which he seems to be doing he's an asset, and more of one than Lough.

[Sessh]

Yeah, OPS is not a good indicator for a guy that doesn't hit home runs and is misleading. I don't like how baseball now views small ball OBP type guys whose strength is getting on base as being worthless at the major league level. The Orioles don't need power, they need guys that can get on base. That's why I said a few days ago that Rickard's lack of power is trivial. On this team, it is a complete non factor and is outweighed by the tools he brings to the table provided he can continue it against major league pitching.

[JLee2027]

Bats right' date=' throws left. Weird.[/quote']

So did Rickey Henderson.

[Rene88]

He's far above what most expected. Hats off to him. He made this club already. Beyond that depends on execution and consistency. Wildcard is right, we don't need power but he has some of that too.

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[ChuckS]

I don't really care what Rickard's OPS is. If he can get on base at a .340 or better clip and play good defense, that will be enough for him to get regular playing time if Kim can't get it done.

He's still in the show me stage. We won't know what he can actually do until the season starts. He will have to prove himself as a part time player first.

[scOtt]

I have to admit, as big a DD homer as I am, I thought he was delusional taking a position player. I saw no way to keep a position player all year, but he looks really special.

[pastorfan]

If Rickard starts, you have Kim to pinch hit for Rickard and Reimold to come in defensively for Trumbo. If AJ comes out of a blowout, you shift Rickard to CF.

Reimold is not really the guy you put in as a defensive replacement, hence my original musings. My very point is that if Rickard starts, then Reimold or Kim may not be on the roster.

[TheBee]

I am hoping he makes me not just forget the Fowler fiasco but actually celebrate it. Hoping for a lot I know, but I also hoped Johnson could be converted into a decent reliever, and he has saved 134 games. It's a great game.