Ademar Rifaela

Ademar Bertty Aloysius Rifaela

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 10", Weight 180 lb.

• Born November 20, 1994 in Willemstad Netherlands Antilles

BR register page

Biographical Information

Ademar Rifaela has won a minor league MVP award and played for the Dutch national team.

Rifaela played for Willemstad in the 2007 Little League World Series. He was signed by Baltimore Orioles scouts Fred Ferreira and Ernst Meyer in 2013. He hit .244/.375/.344 for the 2013 DSL Orioles 2, fielding .990 in left. He produced at a .242/.336/.394 clip for the '14 GCL Orioles. He split 2015 between the Delmarva Shorebirds (.262/.341/.399 in 59 G) and the Aberdeen IronBirds (.200/.273/.267 in 7 G). In 2016, he was with Delmarva (.239/.297/.420 in 92 G) and the Frederick Keys (3 for 18, 2 BB, 2B, HR). He had 12 outfield assists. Among Orioles farmhands, he tied Aderlin Rodriguez for 4th with 6 triples.

Ademar had a big season with Frederick in 2017, hitting .284/.358/.500 with 24 home runs and 78 RBI. He led the Carolina League in dingers (6 ahead of Taylor Gushue and Matt Rose) and total bases (225, 18 ahead of Lucas Erceg). He was also among the leaders in runs (73, 5th), slugging (2nd, .042 behind Ryan Mountcastle), average (5th, between Willi Castro and Tyler Adamo) and OPS (27 behind Mountcastle). Among Baltimore minor leaguers, he was 5th in runs (between Garabez Rosa and Jake Ring), 3rd in homers (behind Austin Hays and Pedro Alvarez), 5th in RBI (between DJ Stewart and Preston Palmeiro) and 2nd in slugging (.093 behind Hayes). He joined Eloy Jimenez and Myles Straw as the loop's All-Star outfielders and won the MVP. After the season, he joined the Dominican League's Toros del Este and hit .227/.301/.228.

The outfielder spent all of 2018 with the Bowie Baysox but faded to 7 homers and a .265/.322/.396 batting line, fielding .991. He debuted for the Netherlands national team when they won the 2018 Super6. He hit 7th and played left in the opener against the Czech national team, singling off Radim Chroust in his first at-bat and going 3 for 4 with 2 runs. He finished the event 5 for 9 with 4 walks and 5 runs, good for 6th in average and 2nd in OBP (.692, behind big league vet Chris Colabello) in the high-scoring event. He was 1 for 1 that winter for the Toros.

In 2019, he played for Bowie (.257/.314/.450 in 60 G) and the Norfolk Tides (.236/.310/.378 in 38 G), fielding .992. He hit 6 triples, tying for 4th in the O's chain. He dazzled for the Netherlands in the 2019 European Championship. He hit 3 homers and drove in 7 runs in a 8-1 win over host Germany and had 3 hits (2 homers) and 5 RBI to hand Israel its first loss. Heading into the final day (which did not count for leaderboard purposes), he was hitting .407/.484/1.111 with 6 homers, 10 runs and 17 RBI in 7 games. He led in slugging (.111 ahead of Moritz Scheicher), was 10th in OBP, tied Maxime Lefevre and Ferdinand Obed for the most runs, tied for 6th with 11 hits, led in RBI (one ahead of Colabello), led in home runs (one ahead of Colabello) and led in total bases (30, 3 ahead of Colabello). The Netherlands won a spot in the 2019 Europe/Africa Olympic Qualifier. In the Gold Medal Game, he was 1 for 3 with a walk and a run from the 5 slot as the Dutch triumphed over Italy. He was named the European Championship MVP, the 3rd straight winner from the Netherlands after Curt Smith and Stijn van der Meer. He beat out over a dozen former major leaguers for the honor.

Notable Achievements

• 2017 Player of the Year Carolina League Frederick Keys