The Lincoln Saltdogs would like to congratulate former catcher Dashenko Ricardo, who had his contract purchased by the Tampa Bay Rays from the Sioux Falls Canaries.
Ricardo played an integral part with the ‘Dogs in each of the past two seasons, serving as the club’s primary backstop and producing a .269/.308/.375 slashline with 11 homers and 64 RBI across 142 games played.
The 29-year-old native of Williamsted, Curacao his heading back to affiliated baseball for the first time since 2013. The Rays will be Ricardo’s fourth Major League organization after he spent time with the Baltimore Orioles, San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers over seven seasons from 2007-2013.
In professional baseball, Ricardo has a .270/.306/.374 slashline with 25 homers and 237 RBI to go along with 384 strikeouts and 84 walks.
The ‘Dogs originally signed Ricardo along with Randolph Oduber on Nov. 1, 2016. He spent three different seasons from 2014-2016 in the Dutch Major League, where he slashed .363/.395/.530 with nine homers and 94 RBI.
He was traded to Sioux Falls on October 16, 2018 for the revisionary rights to LHP Cesilio Pimentel.
The Saltdogs begin their 19th season on May 16th at the Sioux City Explorers. The team opens the 2019 home schedule at Haymarket Park on Thursday, May 23rd. For more information on the ‘Dogs, follow the team on Facebook and on Twitter/Instagram @saltdogsball.