Reviewing the Rickardesque

[Tbone83]

T-Bone, did manage to have an 11 year career, but you are right, as a 1st round pick, we expect more from him.

Loved me some T-bone, obviously.

[srock]

Whoa there, killer. Simmer down now. Rickard doesn't have that type of athleticism.

I think a big part of it is that Rickard is such a sharp contrast to the rest of the lineup. He's a contact hitter that has to work pitchers in order to maximize his outcomes. Plus, he relies heavily on speed. No player on the roster plays quite like Rickard has to.

Dexter Fowler? We don't need no stinkin' Dexter Fowler!

[LA2]

Nolan is too strong for a comp IMO. Body type very different.

That's fair. So substitute in Luis Matos.

[Tx Oriole]

Some names from recent that might fit:

David Newhan

Chris Richard

Nolan Reimold

Sounds like he might be better than those three.

[MurphDogg]

Two Orioles that really grabbed my attention when they came up' date=' who I thought were going to be "mainstays" for us were:

Chito Martinez

Leo Gomez[/quote']

Leo Gomez had the misfortunate of playing at a time when nobody cared about walks and OBP. Not sure why he was exiled to Japan, but he could have had a longer MLB career.

[25 Nuggets]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Only thing more surprising than 1st HR for Joey Rickard was ensuing curtain call. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/orioles?src=hash">#orioles</a> <a href="https://t.co/twYRPRcnGD">https://t.co/twYRPRcnGD</a> <a href="https://t.co/9J1TQjkXJ8">pic.twitter.com/9J1TQjkXJ8</a></p>— Eduardo A. Encina (@EddieInTheYard) <a href="

">April 8, 2016</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

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Is it me or does this guy look like reality TV fodder?

[EasternShoreOs8]

Anyone else seeing the Dad at the end of Field of Dreams in this picture? haha

[PHRESH]

Dexter Fowler? We don't need no stinkin' Dexter Fowler!

If Dexter Fowler was on our team, Rickard would already be out for the season with a terrible knee injury and a sprained ankle[emoji12]

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[Redskins Rick]

Dexter Fowler? We don't need no stinkin' Dexter Fowler!

He has more fantasy points than Jay Bruce does in my league.

[BohKnowsBmore]

Whoa there, killer. Simmer down now. Rickard doesn't have that type of athleticism.

I think a big part of it is that Rickard is such a sharp contrast to the rest of the lineup. He's a contact hitter that has to work pitchers in order to maximize his outcomes. Plus, he relies heavily on speed. No player on the roster plays quite like Rickard has to.

More of a play style comparison, not actual talent/production.

[Filmstudy]

Leo Gomez had the misfortunate of playing at a time when nobody cared about walks and OBP. Not sure why he was exiled to Japan, but he could have had a longer MLB career.

I liked Leo a lot better than Chito because of plate discipline and offensive value for his position. Leo also had outstanding rightcenter gap power for a RHB.

Leo wasn't Mike Young as a disappointment, but I expected more out of him.

Another 3B man who disappointed greatly after 1989 was Craig Worthington. Good plate discipline, great clutch performance in 1989, good glove/arm, but he was never again as good a player as he was at 24.

[tntoriole]

An article recently suggested a comparison of Rickard to Shane Victorino early on in his career. This would be good, for sure.

[Bradysburns]

I don't quite remember anyone who became a semi-folk hero blue collar legend in his first three games in the majors like this kid. Angel wasted no time starting to call him "Joey Baseball" on the radio broadcasts. They're doing "Joe-ey" chants by his third AB in the majors.

I'm sure we've had lots of rookies who got off to very good starts like Rickard. But there's something about this kid that captures the imagination. He's Rule 5 -- Tampa didn't think enough of him to protect him -- and looks like he's 170 pounds soaking wet and he's 12 years old. If he turns out to be, say, Ben Revere, that's an unbelievable steal. But even if he's just a Ryan Flaherty-quality player who happened to start the season hot, I think he's just always going to be a guy who gets a ton of fan support.

Heck, I want to go to the park to chant JOEY JOEY... just because you gotta love this kid. He does look like he's 12, but he plays baseball well. He also seems like a SUPER nice kid. He really didn't want to take a curtain call and only did it after JJ practically ordered him to.

I'm caught up in the hype already and intend to enjoy it as long as possible. JOEY!

That's also just a fun name to chant: JO-EEEY.

Try it. Much more fun than say, BILL!

[MurphDogg]

I liked Leo a lot better than Chito because of plate discipline and offensive value for his position. Leo also had outstanding rightcenter gap power for a RHB.

Leo wasn't Mike Young as a disappointment, but I expected more out of him.

Another 3B man who disappointed greatly after 1989 was Craig Worthington. Good plate discipline, great clutch performance in 1989, good glove/arm, but he was never again as good a player as he was at 24.

Leo Gomez averaged 2.65 rWAR per 600 plate appearances. He was only a disappointment in the sense that walks were not properly valued during his career. And that he was somewhat injury plagued.

[Filmstudy]

Leo Gomez averaged 2.65 rWAR per 600 plate appearances. He was only a disappointment in the sense that walks were not properly valued during his career. And that he was somewhat injury plagued.

Not going to disagree with you on Gomez other than to say his splits limited his playing time versus RHP, so incremental playing time (scaling to 600 PA) would have meant worse overall results. Injuries were only part of the issue, but I really liked him as a player and wish the Orioles had not given up when they did.

The other interesting comment is the failure to value walks properly. I got my start in sports modeling in the 1980's, and it was true at the beginning of that decade, but by 1990, Bill James, STATS Inc, and Total Baseball had greatly broadened understanding of walk totals. I actually think we have regressed in the appreciation of walks since that time by haphazardly combining OBP and SLG into a single number. Now that is devaluation of BBs.