Randolph Oduber and Dashenko Ricardo return to Lincoln SaltDogs

The Lincoln SaltDogs announced the other day, they have re-signed Curaçaoan catcher Dashenko Ricardo for a second season. Also, Randolph Oduber from Aruba will call Lincoln home for the 2018 season.

Both players were teammates last season already and even in the Dutch hoofdklasse they played together on the squad of Curaçao Neptunus, the eighteen-time Dutch champion,

and current reigning Dutch and European champion.

With the SaltDogs, both were teammates with Shairon Martis, Curt Smith and Chris Garia but the latter was released during the season.

Dashenko had a good season at bat which earned him a spot in the indy American Association’s All-Star Game. But not only with his .270 average, he proved to be of great value, also behind the plate he was reliable. In 68 games he committed four errors and threw out 26% of the potential base stealers.

Randolph Oduber performed even better in the batter’s box with an average of .286. In 89 games he committed only 2 errors which led to a fielding percentage of .989.  Randolph played 74 games in right field, 4 in left field and 17 in center field.

Curt Smith will also remain with the SaltDogs. He was signed to a new contract on December 21st. Smith was one of the most productive bats for the SaltDogs over the last 4 years as he hit .319. He is tied for fifth in career doubles (66), fifth in career triples (9), fifth in career home runs (43), fourth in RBIs (196) and fifth in total bases (581). His .322 of last year was hit best average but one in his four years with the club.

In the transaction overview of the American Association, it is mentioned that the SaltDogs exercised the 2018 option for Shairon Martis, just like they did for Oduber and Ricardo. But in case of Martis, there isn’t any news about a contract for 2018 yet.