Joey Rickard as Leadoff Hitter?

[DrungoHazewood]

Preface this with saying Rickard has only had limited time at AAA, no majors. He compares a lot to McClouth. Except Joey has a clue stealing bases. McClouth only had speed.

MiLB numbers:

Rickard steals a base once every 4.9 games at a 76% success rate.

McLouth once every 4.1 games at 84%.

McLouth was a better minor league base stealer.

[Can_of_corn]

Fangraphs has him as a stolen base sleeper pick.

http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/18-al-stolen-base-sleepers/

We talked about Rickard yesterday. With his high contact rate and plate patience, there’s a chance he’ll reach base with frequency. If so, he has enough speed to steal 20 to 30 bases. He’s more likely to take a base if he’s batting at the bottom of the order. The middle of the lineup has too many power threats to risk making outs on the bases.

[Can_of_corn]

And a larger piece on Rickard.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/joey-rickard-is-changing-the-orioles-plans/

[Sanfran327]

I feel like he'd be a little over exposed as a leadoff hitter right away, but the upside is that he'd have a ton of good hitters right behind him that might offer some protection.

Begs the question, how the hell did we get this guy? Anyone that gets on base like this in today's game should be held under lock and key. Glad he's ours, I just hope all of these figures translate to the bigs.

[backwardsk]

We know he can cover ground and catch the ball in left. So even if he doesn't get on base well, you can end up dropping him to 9.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DrungoHazewood]

Begs the question, how the hell did we get this guy?

1) 2014 line in AA: .243/.337/.296, that's an .053 ISO

2) Started 2015 in A ball

3) Walk rate fell by 50% each stop as he went from A-AA-AAA

4) Turns 25 in May and has 104 PAs above AA. Zero in MLB.

5) Current Steamer forecast: .258/.326/.358

6) Current ZIPS forecast: .231/.307/.310

7) Career MiLB ISO of .114

[Sanfran327]

1) 2014 line in AA: .243/.337/.296, that's an .053 ISO

2) Started 2015 in A ball

3) Walk rate fell by 50% each stop as he went from A-AA-AAA

4) Turns 25 in May and has 104 PAs above AA. Zero in MLB.

5) Current Steamer forecast: .258/.326/.358

6) Current ZIPS forecast: .231/.307/.310

7) Career MiLB ISO of .114

So you're saying he's not very good... hmm.

Hopefully he's our 2016 McLouth or Pearce. At least we can feel confident in him knowing that he's in good hands.

[DrungoHazewood]

So you're saying he's not very good... hmm.

Hopefully he's our 2016 McLouth or Pearce. At least we can feel confident in him knowing that he's in good hands.

No, I'm saying that he had a very uneven minor league performance record and unimpressive MLB translations. He is almost certainly not going to continue his spring pace, that I'm sure of. But it's unclear how good he actually is.

[sylvester]

We have our leadoff hitter and we didn't have to give up a first round pick. This kid is scrappy. I said it early in spring he was our leadoff guy. He won the job now lets run him out there every day batting first. I don't like the argument that it's to much pressure to leadoff, that b.s. The whole idea of the leadoff hitter is to get more at bats. To bat him in the 9 defeats that purpose. THe fans will love this kid he plays all out and it exactly what the Orioles needed.

[jamalshw]

1) 2014 line in AA: .243/.337/.296, that's an .053 ISO

2) Started 2015 in A ball

3) Walk rate fell by 50% each stop as he went from A-AA-AAA

4) Turns 25 in May and has 104 PAs above AA. Zero in MLB.

5) Current Steamer forecast: .258/.326/.358

6) Current ZIPS forecast: .231/.307/.310

7) Career MiLB ISO of .114

All of this coupled with the fact Tampa's OF picture is already overcrowded with Dickerson, Jennings, Souza and Kiermaier along with depth like Guyer and Mahtook.