5 reasons clubs should eye free agent Desmond

After passing his one-year, $8 million tryout in Texas with flying colors in 2016, Ian Desmond is set to command a significantly higher payday as a free agent this Hot Stove season.

Desmond’s resurgent campaign — which paid big dividends for the Rangers, who took a flier on him last offseason — should bring teams calling now that he’s on the open market, having declined Texas’ one-year, $17.2 million qualifying offer.

• Hot Stove Tracker

A free agent for a second straight offseason, the 31-year-old is the next player being featured in MLB.com’s series looking at five stats about some of this year’s key free agents. Here are five that could let Desmond’s potential 2017 employers know what they might be able to expect.

1. From short to center Desmond’s athleticism helped him make a dramatic positional change from 2015 to ’16. A shortstop for his entire career, Desmond reinvented himself as a center fielder when he signed with the Rangers. Despite entering the season having played the outfield only twice as a Major Leaguer — and not since his first full season in 2010 — Desmond played all of his 156 games in the outfield in 2016. He did grade out as slightly below average defensively, posting a negative-1.5 Ultimate Zone Rating, but he …

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