Baseball Prospectus

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Statistics For All Levels

Plate Discipline

Preseason Long-Term Forecast (Beyond the 2019 Projections)

Comparable Players (Similarity Index 76)

Rank	Score	Name	Year	DRC+	Trend
1	83	Marvin Benard	1997	69
2	82	Willy Taveras	2008	64
3	81	Jermaine Allensworth	1998	83
4	81	Carlos Gomez	2012	94
5	81	Michael Bourn	2009	84
6	81	Billy Hamilton	2017	66
7	80	Billy North	1974	96
8	80	Jacoby Ellsbury	2010	70
9	80	Brett Butler	1983	94
10	80	Roger Cedeno	2001	81
11	79	Kenny Lofton	1993	113
12	79	Dave Collins	1979	99
13	79	Joey Gathright	2007	75
14	78	Chuck Carr	1994	67
15	78	Don Hahn	1975	108
16	78	Chone Figgins	2004	100
17	78	Gregor Blanco	2010	85
18	78	Alex Cole	1992	76
19	78	Jerome Walton	1992	80
20	78	Richie Ashburn	1953	108
21	77	Rick Peters	1982	0	DNP
22	77	Chad Curtis	1995	108
23	77	Bob Dernier	1983	68
24	77	Rudy Law	1983	93
25	77	Jim Delsing	1952	91
26	77	Bake McBride	1975	99
27	77	Jordan Schafer	2013	69
28	77	Jesus Tavarez	1997	64
29	77	Mickey Rivers	1975	94
30	77	Elliott Maddox	1974	126
31	77	Donell Nixon	1988	89
32	77	Travis Jankowski	2017	53
33	76	Johnny Watwood	1932	70
34	76	Billy Hatcher	1987	101
35	76	Julio Borbon	2012	0	DNP
36	76	John Moses	1984	84
37	76	George Case	1942	116
38	76	Frank Demaree	1936	116
39	76	Mel Almada	1939	58
40	76	Russ Snyder	1960	73
41	76	Chad Fonville	1997	70
42	76	Ben Revere	2014	96
43	75	Stan Jefferson	1989	79
44	75	Marlon Byrd	2004	64
45	75	Darren Lewis	1994	85
46	75	Jerry White	1979	115
47	75	Cliff Heathcote	1924	91
48	75	Shannon Stewart	2000	115
49	75	Jim Landis	1960	98
50	75	Alan Wiggins	1984	98
51	75	Del Unser	1971	90
52	75	Ender Inciarte	2017	98
53	75	Jason McDonald	1998	83
54	75	Jeremy Reed	2007	73
55	75	Steve Hovley	1971	84
56	75	Jose Tabata	2015	74
57	75	Jim Wohlford	1977	70
58	75	Stan Javier	1990	104
59	74	Ryan Christenson	2000	86
60	74	Felipe Crespo	1999	0	DNP
61	74	Harry Walker	1943	96
62	74	Omar Moreno	1979	89
63	74	Gerardo Parra	2013	92
64	74	Denard Span	2010	83
65	74	Ty Cline	1965	62
66	74	Danny Santana	2017	62
67	74	Curt Flood	1964	104
68	74	Everth Cabrera	2013	92
69	74	Rick Miller	1974	100
70	74	Terry Moore	1938	87
71	74	Vince Coleman	1988	76
72	74	Johnny Damon	2000	115
73	74	Rick Manning	1981	89
74	74	Pid Purdy	1930	0	DNP
75	74	Joe Christopher	1962	93
76	74	David Hulse	1994	63
77	74	Tommy Harper	1967	89
78	74	Luis Melendez	1976	60
79	74	Jim Piersall	1956	105
80	74	Nate McLouth	2008	117
81	73	Marquis Grissom	1993	115
82	73	Mike McCormick	1943	86
83	73	Barry Bonnell	1980	102
84	73	Mookie Wilson	1982	83
85	73	Gene Richards	1980	103
86	73	Doug Dascenzo	1990	86
87	73	Randy Winn	2000	88
88	73	Jimmy Welsh	1929	83
89	73	Jim Howarth	1973	71
90	73	Frank Wilson	1927	0	DNP
91	73	Mike White	1965	84
92	73	Willie Bloomquist	2004	62
93	73	Luis Matos	2005	90
94	73	Dain Clay	1946	81
95	73	Lance Johnson	1990	90
96	73	Eric Yelding	1991	63
97	73	Sam West	1931	116
98	73	Wally Moses	1937	125
99	73	Jean Segura	2016	117
100	73	Solly Drake	1957	0	DNP

BP Annual Player Comments

Year		Comment
2019		Due to publishing agreements, the 2019 player comments and team essays are only available in the Baseball Prospectus 2019 book (available in hardcopy, and soon e-book and Kindle).
2018		DeShields put up a nice bounce-back season in 2017. After a year that saw his offense collapse in a part-time role, he found his stride again with consistent playing time spread over left and center field. He saw his speed play on the basepaths, and more importantly, in his defense. He’s still not a completely natural route runner, and he can make mistakes, but the speed covers for a lot of it and he’s rounded into acceptable form. General manager Jon Daniels has said the 25-year-old will likely be the Rangers' starter in center field. That now feels risky, rather than crazy. You could say he drew a Delino in the sand. That he’s DeShields that guard the realms of men. You could say that. Literally no one is stopping you. Freedom is a burden.
2017		With the arrival of last-minute center fielder Ian Desmond on Leap Day, the surprising 2015 starter DeShields was surprisingly back on the bench.. The speedy outfielder did manage to make an appearance in 74 games, mostly in center, which is more in line with what a first-place team might envision.. The two steps forward he took in sticking after the Rule 5 draft last season bottomed out in his sophomore season, as his plate discipline cratered. When you couple that with the questionable defense and nonexistent power he's always had, he'd be wise to keep a bag marked "Round Rock" packed and in his locker at all times.
2016		Entering 2015, conventional wisdom said that Rule 5 pick DeShields might stick with the Rangers as a fourth outfielder/pinch-running type, assuming that he stuck at all. Conventional wisdom didn't foresee Leonys Martin cratering and forcing the Rangers to push Son of DeShields into an every-day role in center field. It certainly didn't see it working. DeShields got on base at an acceptable clip and provided the Rangers with table-setting speed at the top of the order. His defense was far from optimal, or optimized, but the move back to center field from second base comes with a learning curve, especially in spacious Arlington. There is a chance he sticks as a starter, but there is a fine line between players like Dee Gordon and players like Eric Young Jr.
2015		DeShields Senior—Dad, if you will—hit .250/.376/.379 while posting a 21 percent strikeout rate and averaging 0.4 stolen bases per game over his minor-league career. DeShields Junior—Son—has hit .267/.362/.396 with a 20 percent strikeout rate while swiping 0.5 bags per game in the Astros system. Son had his issues in Double-A—his contact rate slipped and too many fly balls led to weak BABIP—but this is the same tremendous athlete who swiped 101 bags back in 2012, when he challenged Billy Hamilton for the crown. The Rangers took him in the Rule 5 draft and he could stick as a utility type with starter upside; he has the tools and burgeoning skills to be a major leaguer. If he winds up back with the Astros, he might have to settle for being one of baseball's most gifted fourth outfielders.
2014		DeShields is the opposite of Carlos Correa in many ways. Correa is quite tall; DeShields is Nick Punto’s height. Correa has all-time makeup; DeShields is suspect, especially on the field. Correa has a plus glove and cannon arm; DeShields' own rate as below average. As a result of the glove and arm differences, the two play at opposite sides of the middle infield. (For now, anyway. With Jose Altuve’s contract extension, DeShields began his training for center field in the Arizona Fall League. The team hopes his 80 run will, uh, speed up the learning curve.) Correa has massive power potential; DeShields may intermittently reach double-digit homers at the highest level. In the end, DeShields only has two legitimate tools (hit, run) while Correa flashes sixes and sevens all around his scouting reports. Naturally, their slash lines last year were nearly identical.
2013		Beware the illusory success of players repeating a level and having good seasons, but be excited about the 2012 DeShields had. His father (“Bop”) had a .375 on-base percentage and 42 steals as a 21-year-old rookie second baseman. Lil Bop's speedy conversion to the keystone (from center field), and equally speedy baserunning suggest he could see similar success. Junior has the short, powerful physique of the running back he was in high school. He already shows the base-stealing savvy to convert his impact speed into more baserunning runs than his father—who stole 463 bases—did. He also has the strength to tally double-digit homers in his prime. Lancaster should inflate his stats early this year, which could mean he'll face Double-A pitching before he turns 21 in August. With only two seasons of full-season ball and two as a second baseman, DeShields needs polish, but the organization's worries are now about how they'll get him on the field with Altuve, not about whether his repeat Single-A season was a fluke.
2012		Deshields was one of only seven 18-year-olds in the SAL. And though he was making a lot of weak contact, his .271 BABIP was also partly due to bad luck. Okay, enough excuses. The Astros didn't use the number eight overall pick on this guy to see him hit like Luis Durango—he was expected to mature into a double-digit home run threat who also filled up box scores with doubles and triples. He is making good progress on the position switch to second base, and though he hasn't mastered it yet, the team expects he will.
2011		The first of the Astros' two first-round draft picks last year and the eighth overall selection, Delino DeShields Jr. will try to follow in the footsteps of his father. Fittingly, the younger DeShields was converted from a center fielder into a second baseman in instructional league at the end of last season. His game is similar to that of his dad, a career .268/.352/.377 hitter, based more on speed and line drives than power. Whether that makes for an early draft pick is still open to debate, as few teams pegged him as higher than a late-first round talent.

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