(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
 Catcher Dashenko Ricardo rejoins Neptunus
Nederlands
 ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
Veteran catcher Dashenko Ricardo will be back in uniform for Curaçao Neptunus, the club announced on Monday (July 20).
...Dashenko Ricardo with the Netherlands Team during...
...the 2017 World Baseball Classic in Japan...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Coming Thursday, Neptunus opens the 2020 regular season with a 3-game series against reigning champion L&D Amsterdam Pirates.
The first game will be played at home in Rotterdam, the two weekend-games will be played in Amsterdam.
The 30-year old Ricardo last played in the Dutch big league during the 2016 season when he also played for Neptunus.
Back then, he left the team after completion of the European Champions Cup-tournament, which was held in Italy and San Marino, and it was then stated that Ricardo had retired.
Ricardo, who had played in only 20 games, returned to Curaçao, but a month later, he had changed his mind and was back on a Dutch baseball-field.
He then rejoined the Netherlands National Team to participate in the Baseball Week Haarlem.
Ricardo also rejoined Neptunus and played in five regular season-games.
He finished the season with a .404 batting average and hit two homeruns, while batting in 26 runs.
Before joining Neptunus, Ricardo played two seasons for Kinheim in 2014 and 2015.
In his first Dutch season, he batted .266 with three homeruns.
The next season, Ricardo led the league with 71 basehits and four triples.
That year, he played in all 42 regular season-games, hit four homeruns, scored 27 runs, batted in 40 and was named the league's Most Valuable Player.
After making his debut in the Netherlands Team in 2009, Ricardo played in the team each year since 2013 and appeared in 58 official international games.
With the Orange squad, the catcher participated in the 2013 and 2017 World Baseball Classic and the 2015 Premier12.
He also played for the team during the 2009 World Championship, three European Championships, including last years in Germany.
Ricardo also wore the orange shirt in the 2018 Super6, two Haarlem Baseball Weeks and one World Port Tournament.
Dashenko Ricardo played professionally in 2007-2013.
In the first six years, he played in Rookie League and Single-A in the organizations of the Baltimore Orioles (2007-2010) and San Francisco Giants (2011-2012).
He then played at three different levels for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012, mostly in Single-A (90 games), but also in Double-A (nine games) and Triple-A (two games).
After having played for three seasons in the Netherlands, Ricardo returned to professional baseball in the USA.
In 2017 and 2018, he played in an Independent League for Lincoln Saltdogs.
In those seasons, he was a teammate of fellow-Netherlands Team-players Shairon Martis, Randolph Oduber and Curt Smith.
This year, Martis also will play in the Dutch big league, as he is a member of the pitching-staff of L&D Amsterdam Pirates.
Last year, Ricardo played in 16 games in the Triple-A team of the Tampa Bay Rays.
(July 20)
|
