Back in early July, when it appeared the Ian Desmond experiment wasn't working, there were many that were ready to bench the guy. The Nationals, as they should have done, decided to stay the course, keeping him in the lineup for the most part. Now, they're reaping the benefits.
↵Desmond is still an adventure defensively, but offensively, he's quietly emerging as one of the best rookies in the National League. As Ben Goessling notes, he hit .347 in August, and has been even better thus far in September, getting a hit in a whopping 10 of his 16 plate appearances. Those growing pains he went through earlier in the season are starting to pay dividends right as the Nationals need that hope most.
↵But even with all this happening, I didn't fully grasp just how good Desmond has been until Mister Irrelevant sent out this tweet yesterday.
↵↵↵Ian Desmond, who looks a lot like Derek Jeter, is having a better season than Jeter. Desmond: .287/.323/.424 Jeter: .266/.332/.374
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Oh, and Desmond is turning 25 later this month. If he can continue to improve defensively, there's no reason why he shouldn't be considered as one of the franchise's building blocks.
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