Orioles Castoff Joey Rickard Homers in 1st AB of First Giants Start

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This season has been a rollercoaster ride for outfielder Joey Rickard but the latest chapter is one he’s definitely happy about. Starting his first game for San Francisco, Rickard introduced himself to Giants fans with a deep home run to left-field in his first at-bat. First impressions are everything and there’s no better way to ingratiate yourself to a new fanbase than performing right from the jump.

 

His path to the homer deserves some discussion; Rickard went from Opening Day starter with Baltimore to a demotion and eventually, a pink slip by the O’s. San Francisco picked him up, though they made him earn his ticket back to the bigs with their Triple-A club (Sacramento). After tearing up Triple-A pitching in 38 games — .358 BA, .974 OPS — the call finally came on August 8th.

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You’ve gotta be happy for Rickard because, in my opinion, he got a raw deal from Baltimore, a team and fanbase he also won over early on before coming back to earth. In total, he played 318 games with the Orioles across four MLB seasons, finishing his tenure with a positive WAR (1.3). On May 22nd, after posting a 0.5 WAR in 42 games, Rickard was demoted in favor of a shiny new toy, Keon Broxton, who was acquired via trade from the Mets. He played solid enough at Triple-A Norfolk, posting a .806 OPS in 18 games, but was DFA’d nonetheless so the O’s could promote pitcher Sean Gilmartin to the 40-man roster.

Hindsight is 20/20, of course, but the Orioles whiffed on both moves: Broxton was a swing-and-miss expert for the O’s — 49 K’s in 112 at-bats, .204 BA — and he too was eventually DFA’d by the club on July 21st. In the case of Sean Gilmartin, he got torched in his O’s debut, allowing five earned runs in 2.1 innings, and was DFA’d because of it.

Broxton, it should be noted, is also back in the bigs with Seattle.

Rather than sticking with Rickard, a fan-favorite who made local commercials and performed well enough on the field, Baltimore rolled the dice and lost. In the grand scheme of their rebuild, this is a footnote, but I’ll continue to root for Rickard — who’s now wearing No. 37 in San Francisco — wherever he goes.

Side note: the jersey he’s wearing in the Royal Farms commercial (below) looks exactly like the Giants jersey from the home run video (above).