Dashenko Ricardo

Dashenko Adriano Ricardo

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 163 lb.

• Born March 1, 1990 in Willemstad Netherlands Antilles

BR register page

Biographical information

Dashenko Ricardo has played in the Dominican Republic, US and Netherlands.

Ricardo was signed by Baltimore Orioles scout Carlos Bernhardt at age 16. In 2007, he hit .297/.350/.405 in a good debut for the DSL Orioles. He slumped badly in 2008, though, batting only .169/.199/.199 for the DSL O's and having 18 passed balls in 32 games at catcher. Despite that, he was on the preliminary Dutch roster for the 2009 World Baseball Classic. He was an unlikely choice to make the final cut as the other catchers listed - Sidney de Jong, Martijn Meeuwis, Tjerk Smeets and Kenley Jansen - had more international experience or better minor league careers. They wound up going with de Jong and Jansen.

That summer, he played for the Bluefield Orioles (.243/.273/.314, 12 PB in 49 G) and the Delmarva Shorebirds (2 for 15, 2B, BB). He led Appalachian League catchers in passed balls, putouts (314) and assists (58). He was 1 for 5 for the Dutch team in the first three rounds of the 2009 Baseball World Cup, backing up de Jong. After starting only one of 11 games through that point, he got the call in the 5th/6th place game as de Jong got a rest; Ricardo went 0 for 4 in a loss to Australia and allowed three steals in three tries. He struggled in 2010 with Bluefield (.241/.254/.362 in 16 G) and the Aberdeen IronBirds (6 for 49, 2B, 4 BB) with a 492 OPS for the year. Despite that performance, the San Francisco Giants took him in the AAA phase of the 2010 Rule V Draft.

He barely played in 2011, with the Giants trying to turn him into a pitcher (as had happened with Jansen, to excellent results). He was 1-0 with 6 K in 3 IP but allowed 5 hits and 3 runs for the AZL Giants and returned to catching the next year. He hit .253/.268/.333 in 47 games for the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, drawing only four walks. He fielded .977 and threw out 37% of those who tried to steal. He led Northwest League backstops in assists, double plays (8) and errors (9).

In the 2013 World Baseball Classic, Ricardo started for the Netherlands ahead of Bas Nooij and Quintin de Cuba, aided by de Jong's retirement and Jansen's moving to the mound. He went 5 for 22 with two runs and two RBI in eight games as the Dutch surprisingly made it to the final four before falling to the champion Dominican national team. The Los Angeles Dodgers signed him for the summer, which he split between the Great Lakes Loons (.202/.244/.250 in 26 G), Chattanooga Lookouts (4 for 16, 2B, HR, BB) and Albuquerque Isotopes (0 for 7). He ended his minor league career with a .224/.259/.296 batting line, 70 runs and 79 RBI in 861 plate appearances over 251 games.

For 2014, he signed with Corendon Kinheim in the Netherlands. He hit 7th and started at catcher on Opening Day. He doubled his first time up and went 1 for 4 with a RBI for the day. He hit .266/.307/.424 with 28 RBI in 37 games. He tied Mike Duursma for 9th in the 2014 Hoofdklasse in RBI, tied for third in doubles (13, even with Bas de Jong, Mark-Jan Moorman and Vince Rooi) and tied for 8th in home runs (3). He was 2 for 12 with a walk and three runs in the 2012 European Championship, backing up Shawn Zarraga at catcher. He did not appear in the Gold Medal Game win.

In the 2015 World Port Tournament, he batted .261/.333/.348 with 6 runs and 7 RBI in six games as the starting catcher for the Netherlands, with a 3-run triple in a win over Cuba and 3 runs against Curacao. He tied for 4th in RBI and tied for 7th in runs. He made major strides in the 2015 Hoofdklasse relative to 2014, hitting .420/.441/.609 with 40 RBI in 42 games and throwing out 39% of those who tried to steal. He was second in average (.011 behind Christian Diaz), second in slugging (.017 behind Diaz), 5th in OBP (between Nooij and Duursma), led in hits (11 more than Dwayne Kemp), was second in RBI (two shy of Gianison Boekhoudt), was 5th in doubles (12), tied for first in triples (4, even with Remco Draijer, Kevin Moesquit and Rien Vernooij), tied de Cuba for 4th in home runs (4), led in total bases (19 more than Mervin Gario) and tied for the most runners thrown out stealing (16). He would win Hoofdklasse MVP, the first catcher to win since Smeets in 2008. It was the first time there were only two finalists in the 25 years the Hoofdklasse had named MVP finalists (always 3 or 4 previously); Diaz was the other finalist.

He was only 4 for 21 with two runs and no RBI as Kinheim fell to Neptunus in the 2015 Holland Series. Backing up Zarraga in the 2015 Premier 12, he went 3 for 8 and went deep off Ludovico Coveri of Italy.