Actually, Rickard is good at defense

[interloper]

• 10 defensive runs saved, 10th best in baseball
• Third best in baseball for UZR/150 (1 and 2 are Heyward and Betts)

 

 

 

 

[interloper]

I wonder if this has to do with Rickard playing more RF this year. He looks much more natural out there to me than in LF, just based on the eye test. 

[Frobby]

It's funny, I didn't think he was as bad as the advanced metrics showed last year, and I don't think he's as good as the numbers show now.     He might be a small tick above average with the glove, and slightly below average with the arm, going strictly by the eye test.    I've seen him make several nice plays, and I've seen him misjudge some balls.    Overall, I'm satisfied, but he's not David Lough out there.   

[Lucky_13]

He's turned out exactly to be exactly what scouts said he would be: a 4th outfielder with good defense and an okay bat. He's decent as a right handed side of a platoon but nothing spectacular

[Aristotelian]

At least one of those runs saved was on a fluke play the other day where a liner was hit right to him but the runner broke so he turned the double play.

[Aglets]

Rickard has saved the 10th most runs in all of baseball?

Yea, about those advanced stat metrics.....................

Not meant to be a knock against Rickard......good for him.

[Camden_yardbird]

I feel like this team needs to send more of their rule 5 guys down in the second year to fully develop them.  I think again they are missing an opportunity to turn Rickard into a better player.

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, Lucky_13 said:

He's turned out exactly to be exactly what scouts said he would be: a 4th outfielder with good defense and an okay bat. He's decent as a right handed side of a platoon but nothing spectacular

To me, he's still too light of a hitter to say he has an "okay bat."    

[Lucky_13]

Just now, Frobby said:

To me, he's still too light of a hitter to say he has an "okay bat."    

Probably true. But I meant as opposed to Craig Gentry or David Lough. 

[interloper]

Just now, Frobby said:

To me, he's still too light of a hitter to say he has an "okay bat."    

Agree, his bat and OBP have both been a bit of a disappointment this year, and therefore he hasn't been able to leverage his speed on the bases much either. But I certainly like him over Gentry and I'm perfectly fine with the (apparently improved) defense he's bringing. I emphasize again that he looks significantly more comfortable in RF than LF. And perhaps vice versa for Mancini. 

[jamalshw]

I like Rickard well enough as a 4th OF going forward. He's nothing to get excited about, but he's a useful role player.

[ReclaimTheCrown]

Funny, since so many on this board couldn't help falling all over themselves this offseason talking about how poor he'd been defensively based on the metrics.  Now this.

[interloper]

6 minutes ago, ReclaimTheCrown said:

Funny, since so many on this board couldn't help falling all over themselves this offseason talking about how poor he'd been defensively based on the metrics.  Now this.

Metrics can be improved upon, they can be worsened, they can be outliers, and they are not always permanent indicators of player talent.

Just look at Schoop's .355 (!) OBP. It doesn't mean that Schoop is now an on-base machine, though, because Manny's has dropped from .346 to .316. We know, however, that both players are capable of high OBPs.

Rickard can play defense at a high level on a platoon-player's amount of playing time. We know that now. Good for him! He's made the improvements that you hope a young outfielder with speed makes. Let's see if he can keep it up. 

[ArtVanDelay]

57 minutes ago, Lucky_13 said:

He's turned out exactly to be exactly what scouts said he would be: a 4th outfielder with good defense and an okay bat. He's decent as a right handed side of a platoon but nothing spectacular

A 68 wRC+ isn't okay.

[ReclaimTheCrown]

41 minutes ago, interloper said:

Metrics can be improved upon, they can be worsened, they can be outliers, and they are not always permanent indicators of player talent.

Just look at Schoop's .355 (!) OBP. It doesn't mean that Schoop is now an on-base machine, though, because Manny's has dropped from .346 to .316. We know, however, that both players are capable of high OBPs.

Rickard can play defense at a high level on a platoon-player's amount of playing time. We know that now. Good for him! He's made the improvements that you hope a young outfielder with speed makes. Let's see if he can keep it up. 

Sure, and I agree with you.  I just meant to point out that it was portrayed by many here as a foregone conclusion that 3ish months of lousy defensive metrics meant that he was going to be a poor OFer.