Where is the real Ian Desmond?

Surprisingly, closer to the 25 homers than his .292 clip. His contact rate straddles the league average; he doesn't take many walks; and his low rate of laces negates his BA-friendly grounder frequency.

Opposite-field power shows when a player takes a step forward. The righty stick's 13 homers, 38.2 HR/FB and .862 slugging percentage to left field stand out as inflated, but his figures to center (8, 16.0, .590) and right field (4, 7.5, .481) weren't outlandish in either direction. Desmond didn't clear the fences of the latter two regions at all in 2011.

He'll have some taters peeled off his pull total as some errant gusts of breeze switch course, but his fly-ball increase and a second year of pop-up decrease show he's not Brady Anderson.

It was an exaggerated but valid growth year. At age 27, he's primed to continue it, and as long as you can absorb a chunk of BA loss, take advantage of others' hesitation for what will widely result in a built-in discount.