Desmond Revival Off to Rough Start

Ian Desmond had a good run of games in spring training, both at the plate and in the field while adjusting to his new position in a new league.

But since the games began counting last week, things haven't been so swell.

The former all-star shortstop, who's playing under a one-year, $8 million deal looking to re-establish his value after a couple of rough years in Washington, has just four hits in his first 39 at-bats. That's good for an unsightly .103 batting average and .167 on-base percentage. He has no extra-base hits and no RBIs.

It hasn't been pretty.

The Dallas Morning News' Evan Grant pointed out a couple of pretty understandable reasons Desmond might be struggling, aside from the fact that he is a traditionally slow starter.

First off, Grant said, Desmond is trying to revamp his whole approach at the plate after struggling the past two seasons, before which he was seen as a potential lock for 20 homers and 20 steals a year. Second, he's facing a lot of these American League pitchers for the first time.

Add to that the fact that Desmond is focused on learning a new position after spending his entire career at shortstop, and you have a pretty nice recipe for awful.

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Desmond is athletic enough and has the skills to turn things around, so he deserves some time, but it'd be in his best interest if that turnaround started pretty soon, especially with Nomar Mazara's stellar debut and Josh Hamilton working toward getting healthy.

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