RADIO
Delino DeShields Will Provide Speed
7 years agoTexas Rangers outfielder Delino DeShields enters 2018 as an intriguing sleeper. Hype on the speedster reached a fever pitch in 2016, but offensive ineptitude forced the Rangers to demote him. But he rebounded in 2017 and the diminutive DeShields was one of the best part-time players in the bigs, collecting 29 steals and 75 runs on just 440 at-bats. DeShields will bring nothing to the table in terms of power, but you don’t have to hit homers when you can draw walks at a 10% clip and rate among the best baserunners in baseball. While the 25-year old is unlikely to steal much more playing time, it is perfectly reasonable to expect 500 at-bats in 2018. If he can manage that, 30 steals on about a .250 average is a great return on a player you can grab for depth. DeShields is going undrafted at the moment, and he offers more upside than other options for cheap speed.
