Ray-Patrick Didder

Ray-Patrick Elijah Khalil Didder

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 170 lb.

• Born October 1, 1994 in Oranjestad Aruba

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Biographical Information

Ray-Patrick Didder has played as high as AA (through 2021) and has been on the Kingdom of the Netherlands national team. He is the son of Pat Didder.

He was signed by Atlanta Braves scout Dargello Lodowica in April 2013. He hit .259/.420/.289 for the DSL Braves that summer, with 31 walks and 34 runs in 48 games, fielding .919 at SS. In 2014, he came to the US and batted .274/.354/.376 for the GCL Braves. He fielded .931 at short and tied for 7th in the Gulf Coast League in triples. He was named the GCL Braves Player of the Year.

In 2015, he produced at a .247/.346/.332 clip for the Danville Braves, while moving to center field. With the 2016 Rome Braves, he hit .274/.387/.381 with 9 triples, 37 steals in 49 tries, 95 runs and 39 times hit by pitch. He had 20 assists from the outfield to boot. He was among the South Atlantic League leaders in runs (1st, one ahead of Brian Mundell), triples (tied for 3rd with Eric Jenkins and Kyri Washington), steals (tied for 4th with Dylan Moore), OBP (2nd, .034 behind Yermin Mercedes), outfield double plays (7, 1st) and hit-by-pitch (1st, 17 ahead of Víctor Robles). He led all minor leaguers in HBP (5 ahead of Robles, who had another stop that year). Among Braves farmhands, he led in runs (12 ahead of Ozzie Albies), was 2nd in triples (one behind Albies), tied Emilio Bonifacio for the most steals, tied Dansby Swanson for 7th with 50 walks and had 18 more HBP than the next player, Marcus Mooney.

Following that big year, he slipped to .230/.331/.330 for the 2017 Florida Fire Frogs. His 21 times plunked led the Florida State League, five ahead of Will Craig and Brett Cumberland. He split 2018 between the Fire Frogs (.209/.309/.299 in 76 G) and Mississippi Braves (.275/.373/.374 in 46 G) while returning to shortstop from the outfield. His 7 triples tied for 3rd in the Braves chain, while he led them with 27 steals (four ahead of Drew Waters) and tied Riley Delgado for the most times hit (13). Backing up Lucius Fox at short for the Peoria Javelinas, he hit .228/.343/.246. Returning to Mississippi for a full year, he slumped to .203/.332/.285 though he did steal 28 bases in 36 tries. He tied Travis Demeritte for 8th among Braves minor leaguers in walks (51), tied Trey Harris for times hit (15) and was second to Justin Dean in steals (by 19). He was 4th in the Southern League in steals (between Josh Lowe and Luis Aviles) and tied Joe Dunand for 2nd in times hit by pitch.

He then played for the Netherlands in the 2019 Premier 12, replacing John Polonius, who had been with the Dutch just beforehand at the 2019 Europe/Africa Olympic Qualifier. He debuted in a loss to Team USA, taking over at short and Gianfranco Wawoe's spot in the batting order; SS Sharlon Schoop moved to third to replace Wawoe in the field. Didder flew out against Clayton Richard in his lone at-bat. His first hit was a double off Henry Henry of the Dominican national team. He finished the event 2-for-7 with the one double and one steal, handling four putouts and four assists.

That winter, he hit .177/.304/.271 for the Atenienses de Manatí and stole 7 bases in 8 tries, one steal behind Puerto Rican League leader Johneshwy Fargas. He then moved to Fortitudo Bologna in Italy, again replacing Polonius. He came up big in the COVID-19-shortened season, hitting .413/.516/.600 with 28 runs and 18 RBI in 22 games, going 15-for-19 in steals. He was second in average (.060 behind Federico Celli), second in slugging (.335 behind Celli), third in OBP (after Celli and Mattia Reginato), third in runs (after Celli and Lorenzo Dobboletta), second in hits (31, 13 behind Celli), tied Cesare Astorri for eighth in RBI, tied Lorenzo Avagnina for third in doubles (6) and led in steals (3 ahead of Aldo Koutsoyanopulos). In the 2020 Italian Series, he hit .318/.423/.409 with 7 runs and 3 steals (in 3 tries) in 7 games as Bologna won it all. He handled 19 chances error-free, second in the event behind Vincent Ahrens. He was also 6th in average, 7th in slugging, 2nd in OBP (.096 behind Celli), 2nd in runs (two behind Celli), tied for 2nd in hits (7, one behind Eugene Helder), 1st in steals and 1st with 2 times hit. His 12 assists were second, one behind Oscar Angulo.

With the minor leagues back in operation (not running in 2020 due to COVID), he was back in the US. The Los Angeles Angels signed him and sent him to their Rocket City Trash Pandas club. He hit .240/.331/.380 and was their most-used option at both SS (49 G, to 22 by Gavin Cecchini) and 2B (27 G, to 22 by Aviles) while backing up Torii Hunter Jr. in CF. He then played for the Netherlands in the 2021 European Championship, this time as a starter in right field (former major leaguer Roger Bernadina had center). He hit .435/.567/.783 with 10 runs, 2 homers, 8 RBI, 5 HBP and 7 steals (not caught) in 6 games. He made two errors but had one assist. He hit a 3-run homer off the Czech national team's Filip Čapka, falling a triple shy of the cycle that game. The next day, he went deep off Sweden's August Mattsson as part of a three-run game. He had 3 hits in the semifinal win over Spain. In the Gold Medal Game, he was 1 for 4 with a hit-by-pitch and two runs in a 9-4 win over Israel as the Netherlands took the title. He finished among the leaders in runs (tied Engel Beltre and Vojtěch Menšík for 3rd), hits (tied for 5th), home runs (tied for 5th), total bases (18, tied for 7th with Dashenko Ricardo and Aaron Singh), slugging (10th, between Singh and Bernadina), OBP (9th, between Schoop and Kostiantyn Chukhas), OBP (8th, between Singh and Gabriel Lino), HBP (1st, one ahead of Bernadina and Dimitri Kourtis) and steals (one ahead of Bernadina). The European Championship MVP went to Bernadina.