Turns Out, Desmond is Still on His Tear

When the Rangers signed a former all-star shortstop with three straight years of decline to an $8 million contract to play left field, there were two polar reactions in the baseball world.

Some folks thought it was genius given the relative low cost of the deal. Others thought it was insane due to the decline and the position change.

And early in the year, the former were looking foolish while the latter were rubbing it in.

How quickly things can change.

Through Desmond's first 12 games this year, he was hitting a miserable .109 with a .180 on-base percentage. Awful.

In his last 25 games, after getting more comfortable with the outfield and getting more familiar with American League pitchers after a career spent previously in the National League, he's excelled.

In fact, Desmond might be the team's best hitter over that stretch, unless everyone's favorite Ranger hero, Rougned Odor, might have something to say about that.

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In those 25 games, the Rangers are 15-10 and Desmond is batting .340 with a .406 on-base percentage and 1.033 OPS. He has 10 doubles, a triple and five homers in that time to go with 22 RBIs and has scored 21 runs.

Desmond has been so good lately, there is actually a narrative out there suggesting the Rangers could end up giving Desmond a long-term deal this winter, but that still seems unlikely given what the Rangers have coming in the form of Lewis Brinson coupled with this year's AL Rookie of the Year candidate Nomar Mazara.

But forget next year, let's just enjoy this year and his sweet bat flip he dropped on his game-winning homer Sunday.

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