From one bird to another, Nolan Reimold signs with LI Ducks

By Devon Teeple
GMs Perspective

Birds of a feather...

All but twenty nine games of Nolan Reimold’s eight-year MLB career have been spent with the Baltimore Orioles. And 22 of those were with the Toronto Blue Jays, the rest with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

After being granted free agency by the O’s in November of 2016, Reimold inked a deal with the Long Island Ducks of the Independent Atlantic League.

What the Ducks are getting is an established MLB calibre player with over 13 years of professional experience under his belt.

“Nolan has put together an impressive career in professional baseball and has extensive experience at the game’s highest level,” said Ducks President/GM Michael Pfaff. “He is eager to help this team win as well as earn an opportunity to return to the Major Leagues. We look forward to having him with the club.”

Drafted in the second round in 2005 from Bowling Green State, Reimold has dealt with serious injuries over his career and has been used more of a utility guy than anything else. Despite never playing more than 104 games in a season, he’s got legit power and can drive the ball out of the ballpark at any given time; 56 home runs/61 doubles in 480 games.

The Ducks are one of the best teams in all of Independent baseball (three league championships), and have a rich history of current and former MLBers (Rich Hill) leveraging their time there as a platform to be seen.

By no means does 32 years of age mean Reimold is over the hill. On the contrary, this might just be the reboot he needs to help at team out come the trade deadline for a playoff run.

Devon Teeple is the Founder and Executive Director of The GM’s Perspective. He is a former professional baseball player with the River City Rascals & Gateway Grizzlies.