Delino DeShields hit .240 for Double-A Corpus Christi in the Houston Astros organization in 2014, which is hardly anything to get too excited about when talking about a Double-A prospect. Details are a bit sketchy, but there were also some personal issues between DeShields and the Astros organization, so that combination made him expendable.
The Rangers took DeShields with a Rule 5 draft pick in December, meaning he'd have to be on the Rangers' big-league roster for the entirety of the 2015 season or be returned to Houston.
Two months into the 2015 season, it seems safe to assume the Rangers have no plans in sending DeShields back down south.
The 22-year-old son of a former big-leaguer by the same name just earned AL Rookie of the Month honors for May and is turning into the bonafide leadoff man the Rangers have been seeking for, well, forever.
Through 39 games entering Friday, DeShields was batting .291 with an on-base percentage of .386, which is pretty extraordinary. He has seven doubles, two triples and has stolen 13 bases while being caught just once. He's scored 25 runs and he leads baseball in bunt hits, basically forcing opposing third basemen to always play at the end of the infield grass against him. He's a real weapon, and offensively speaking, he's pretty much becoming what Leonys Martin has yet to, and at this point, might never become.
Not bad for a castoff who was seen as a marginal prospect with only one great tool (speed) in his favor.
