SEASON SUMMARY

Chris Richard appeared in 136 games for the Orioles in 2001 despite a bum throwing arm--one that required surgery and will force the Orioles outfielder to miss at least the first half of the 2002 season.  In fact, as the arm problem become more noticeable and after David Segui down with an injury of his own, Richard spent some time supplementing Jeff Conine at first base and ended up making 18 appearance there.  But the bulk of the time was spent in the outfield (69 games in right, 36 in center) and at DH (20 games).

Richard really doesn't have the bat to play first or DH on anything but a fill-in basis, and even playing at a corner outfield spot is probably a bit of a stretch, in anything but a platoon role, because Richard can't hit lefties at all (see notes below).  Fortunately for Richard, he doesn't appear to be much of a defensive liability in center field, though he's certainly not a Gold Glove candidate there either.

The truth is that Richard is probably a fourth outfielder on a strong team, and a contributing starter on a middling club.  But on a weak club like the Orioles, his presence would really be missed since he was one of the team's top offensive performers in 2001, despite the fact that he ranked just 39th of 57 big league outfielders (with at least 502 plate appearances) in Offensive Winning Percentage (.496).  In fact, he ranked 19th of 21 qualifying big league right fielders in the same category.

Richard's problem, in addition to his platoon differential, is that he doesn't do anything very well offensively.  His .265 batting average was slightly below the American League average of .267 and well below the AL RF average of .276; he doesn't walk all that much (just 41 unintentional walks in 542 plate appearances, or one for every 13.2 PAs, slightly worse than the league average of one per 13.0 PAs; far worse than the AL RF average of one UBB per 10.6 PAs), and his power is average at best for his position (a .435 slugging percentage compared to an AL RF mark of .456).  

Richard, who turns 28 in June, is supposedly at the peak of his career and Richard is basically a slightly below average player at his position.  He may have a spike in him at some point, but this is about as good as can reasonably expected from him, and while not awful, it doesn't conjure up any great impressions.

TO CONTRIBUTE SIGNIFICANTLY NEXT YEAR, HE MUST:

1) substantially improve against left-handed pitching (see below) or be content with a platoon role

2) fully recover his arm strength; if he's a marginal starting right fielder, he absolutely is not a starting caliber left fielder, first baseman or designated hitter

3) stop trying to steal bases; he's 18 for 32 (56%) in his big league career, which is far worse than what a player needs to do to be helpful in that capacity

NOTES

A huge platoon differential:  .208/.265/.245 vs. LHP in 106 ABs; .281/.354/.488 vs. RHP in 377 ABs...also a huge home/road differential:  .224/.303/.363 at home; .305/.366/.504 on the road...a tough out with the no one on base and none out (.328/.376/.560 in 116 ABs), but weak with runners in scoring position (.239/.333/.372)...slid after the All-Star break:  .274/.352/.474 before; .257/.321/.403.