In defense of Ian Desmond

Ian Desmond is a class ballplayer, and he may be of highest distinction of the meaning ‘he is a professional.’ Desmond also would be the first to tell you that he’s had a disappointing start to his Colorado career.

Through his first 35 games with the Rockies, the shortstop turned center fielder turned first baseman turned left fielder is slashing .266/.295/.374. This amounts to a -0.5 fWAR as the metrics have also not been too kind to him defensively. Just from watching him every day there have been times when he has taken a poor route or two in his new position but his elite athleticism allowed him to make the out anyway.

Let’s start here, $70 million is a lot for the Colorado Rockies so it’s understandable to get worked up over your first taste of him. However, by the way, his contract is structured he is only making $8 million this year, which is a dime on the dollar for any veteran, let alone a former All-Star. Now he is locked in for five years and nobody should sit and argue that his current level of production would be acceptable for his contract length.

Yet Desmond will up his production and it will happen very quickly.

There are really simple reasons, extremely simple reasons that his numbers are bound to go up in time.

Desmond’s role of switching positions and being juggled in a three-man rotation with Gerardo Parra and Mark Reynolds may be hampering him. While I personally think Desmond will grow accustomed to switching positions on any given day—though he probably will be the club’s starting first baseman come the second half—getting him more at-bats might the solution for his slump.

Another reason is these are historically bad numbers for Desmond. He’s never had an OPS+ of lower than 82—which is not good—he’s at 65 right now. The 82 came in a 2015 contract year with Washington that was highly publicized and frankly a complete failure for the now 31-year-old. But Desmond started out last season with a 60s OPS+ in his first dozens of games and finished at 104.

In his first 35 games last season with Texas he slashed .252/.327/.427 with four homers and 19 RBI. Almost the same numbers he has now. Not only did he end up being an All-Star last year he had one of the best first halves in baseball, OPS’ing .899 in 89 games.

Maybe the simplest reason of all is that Desmond didn’t go out on rehab after nursing an injury that kept him out of the Rockies lineup for all of April. These numbers should continue to grow after he adjusts to his new team and environment. The proof is not there just yet but should come soon.

He has already made undervalued contributions. He essentially won three games this season for the Rockies. His leadership and his big name that lengthens the lineup have also helped the Rockies already in an untold amount of ways.

One MLB official praised his defense off the record. He called it MLB average but it plays up because of his athleticism and the little things that show he’s still getting better.

Over the course of his career he’s always had offensive outbursts and cold snaps, it’s just part of baseball and he’s more like Carlos Gonzalez in that sense than Nolan Arenado.

Desmond is proof that the Rockies still value defense and speed. His baseball instincts are second to none and his vast experience of competitive baseball is a key reason the Rockies clubhouse has undergone such a positive change this season. While some already want to write Desmond off or say that the signing was a mistake, it’s clear that he’s already been a huge influence on one of the best ballclubs in franchise history.