Denzel Richardson

Denzel Rinaldo Richardson

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 175 lb.

• Born January 7, 1994 in Philipsburg Saint Maarten

BR register page

Biographical Information

Denzel Richardson has played in the Dominican Republic, USA, Curaçao and Netherlands.

He was signed by Colorado Rockies scout Rolando Fernandez in November 2011. He hit .211/.266/.256 for the 2012 DSL Rockies but improved to .256/.301/.408 with the same club in '13; his 5 homers were second on the squad. He came stateside in 2014 with the Grand Junction Rockies (.213/.273/.338 in 22 G) and Tri-City Dust Devils (.200/.273/.317 in 18 G). He was 2 for 9 for Grand Junction in '15 to end his time in the Rockies chain.

The outfielder split 2016 between two independent teams, the Joliet Slammers (.360/.385/.440 in 8 G) and Evansville Otters (.245/.321/.406), stealing 14 bases in 20 tries and showing some pop (8 2B, 5 HR in 168 AB). He played in 2017 for the Santa Rosa Indians in Curaçao. He was with the Netherlands national team for the 2017 World Port Tournament, going 3 for 20 with a hit-by-pitch.

From there, things definitely turned upward. Signing with DSS, he hit .343/.401/.512 in the 2018 Hoofdklasse with 20 steals in 28 tries, 8 doubles, 6 homers, 27 runs and 30 RBI in 42 games. He was among the league leaders in average (4th, between Roelie Henrique Jr. and irStijn van der Meer), slugging (2nd, .027 behind Dwayne Kemp), hits (57, 2nd, 11 behind Kemp), homers (tied for 1st with Sam Kennelly), total bases (85, 2nd, 5 behind Kemp), steals (tied for 2nd with Jarreau Martina and Kemp) and caught stealing (1st). He was with the Netherlands for the 2018 Haarlem Baseball Week but again struggled on the international stage - .208/.231/.333, 11 K in 24 AB to lead in whiffs.

Richardson moved to the L&D Amsterdam Pirates the next season. He homered off Raúl Rivero in a win over Unipolsai Bologna in the 2019 European Champions Cup opener, drove in 3 against the K. Deurne Spartans and was one of two Amsterdam players with multiple hits in their loss in the finals. In the round-robin, he hit .385/.400/1.077 with 3 HR and 7 RBI in 4 games. He was 3rd in slugging (after Wilson Lee and Gilmer Lampe), tied for 3rd with 6 runs, tied Lee for the most dingers and tied for 2nd in total bases. In the 2019 World Port Tournament, he made up for his 2017 woes. He had 4 hits, 3 runs and 4 RBI in a win over North America and finished the event at .292/.346/.542 with 2 homers and 6 RBI in six games. He was 6th in slugging (between Po-Hao Huang and Sherman Lacrus), tied for 5th in runs (5), tied Darryl George for 3rd in RBI, led in homers and tied Lacrus for 4th in total bases (13). He won the World Port Tournament Most Popular Player award.

In the 2019 Hoofdklasse, he put up a .388/.459/.619 batting line for Amsterdam with 38 RBI in 35 games, while going 13-for-14 in steals. He led the league in average (.006 ahead of outfield mate Lampe) and slugging (.001 ahead of Lampe), was 2nd in OBP (.020 behind Lampe), was 2nd in RBI (2 behind Kemp), ranked 3rd with 13 doubles (after Jason Halman and Lampe), tied for 2nd with 3 triples (one shy of Kemp), tied for 6th in homers (4), was 3rd in total bases (83, behind Kemp and Lampe) and tied Coco Johnson for 8th in swipes. He struggled in the 2019 Holland Series when Amsterdam became the first team to come back from a 3 games to 0 deficit to win, hitting .179/.258/.214 with 3 runs and one RBI in the 7 games. He made an error in game 6 but later made two nice defensive plays to make up.

Richardson hit .412/.485/.682 in the 2020 Hoofdklasse, with 23 runs and 26 RBI in 21 games in a season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic. He was among the leaders in average (3rd, after Victor Draijer and Gregory Muller), slugging (4th, between Muller and Sharlon Schoop), OBP (7th, between Joey Eeman and John Polonius), runs (2nd, 4 behind Polonius), hits (35, 3rd, after Draijer and Kemp), RBI (2nd, one behind Kalian Sams), doubles (tied Halman for 2nd with 8), homers (5, 2nd, 3 behind Sams) and total bases (58, 2nd, 3 behind Draijer). He was 3 for 10 with a run and 3 RBI in the 2020 Holland Series, which was cut short by COVID safety protocols with the Pirates up 2 games to 0; neither team was declared the winner, though.

He was the starting right fielder for the Netherlands in the 2020 Final Olympic Qualification Tournament (held in 2021 due to COVID-related delays). He debuted as a pinch-hitter for Randolph Oduber, striking out against Venezuela's Freddy Pacheco. The next game, he had a 4th-inning single off the Dominican national team's Osvaldo Bidò and a double later against Jairo Asencio. He was 2-for-9 with a run for the event; the Netherlands' Olympic hopes came to an end. He did well for Amsterdam in the 2021 European Champions Cup: .316/.350/.526, 5 R in 4 G, including a homer off the Rouen Huskies' Jeremy Dubois. He appeared for the Netherlands in the 2021 European Championship, backing up Ray-Patrick Didder in right field and Kemp at DH. He was 2 for 8 with a steal, two runs and two RBI. In the Gold Medal Game against Israel, he hit 5th and was 0 for 2 with a steal and a run (hitting into a force and coming around) before Kemp batted for him in a 9-4 win.

Denzel was the star of the 2021 Hoofdklasse, producing at a .447/.521/.673 rate with 18 doubles, 36 runs, 46 RBI, 29 walks and 21 steals (in 24 tries) in 159 at-bats. He tied Lampe for 5th in runs, led in hits (9 ahead of Kemp), led in doubles (one ahead of Draijer and Polonius), tied Jeldwin Orman and Shaldimar Daantji for the most triples (3), tied Sams for 3rd in home runs (4), led in RBI (4 more than Kemp), led in total bases (107, 25 ahead of Kemp), led in average (.059 ahead of Kemp), led in slugging (.145 ahead of Lampe), led in OBP (.045 ahead of Lampe), obviously was far ahead of Lampe or anyone else in OPS, was 6th in walks and was 2nd in steals (3 behind Brendly Martina). He was named Hoofdklasse MVP, the third Amsterdam outfielder to win within a decade, following Bas de Jong (2013-2014), Danny Rombley (2017) and Lampe (2019). He scored the first run of the 2021 Holland Series, drawing a walk from Diegomar Markwell in the 4th and scoring on a hit by Sicnarf Loopstok; it was the winner in a 2-0 game as Shairon Martis pitched a gem. The next day, he again scored the winning run, singling off Kevin Bakker and driven in by Kenny Berkenbosch. He had their only hit off Kevin Kelly in a Game 3 loss. Down 3-2 in Game 6 (with Amsterdam now down 3 games to 2), he hit a key two-run double off Bakker to put Amsterdam ahead for good and then socked a two-run homer later against Misja Harcksen for a 4-RBI day. The Pirates would go on to win the Series; he hit .391/.548/.609 with 5 runs and 4 RBI. He tied Dashenko Ricardo for the Series run lead, tied Ricardo and Gianison Boekhoudt for 4th in hits (9), tied for the lead with two doubles, tied for 2nd with the one homer (Sams had two), tied van der Meer and Christian Diaz for 3rd in RBI, tied Boekhoudt for the most total bases (14), was 2nd in average (.023 behind MLB vet Roger Bernadina), led in slugging (.044 ahead of Sams), led in OBP (.096 ahead of van der Meer and Bernadina), led in OPS (163 ahead of Sams) and led in walks (8, 3 ahead of Sams).