5 comps for Mariners OF Jonatan Clase

Seattle Mariners Photo Day
Seattle Mariners Photo Day / Steph Chambers/GettyImages
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Rajai Davis - 62 HR, 415 SB, .262/.311/.379. 11.8 WAR
Delino DeShields - 80 HR, 463 SB, .268/.352/.377. 24.4 WAR

Delino DeShields was still a dang good player. There is no doubting that. My point here is that I wanted to look at a couple of guys who had long careers, still hit a handful of homers, but were a threat on the bases for a long time.

Rajai Davis played for 14 years as a part of 8 teams, appearing in 1450 games. He was never the best player on his team, was rarely even the best outfielder, but was always a good guy to have. He was going to be a threat to steal whenever he got on, could pinch run, and was a nice addition to the bottom of any lineup. We all want more than that, but having Clase as a 3rd/4th outfielder with legit speed for 15 years would be nice. But I want more.

That's how we get to DeShields. 5 seasons with a WAR of 3.0 or higher. Almost as many triples as homers. Averaged 44 steals over his first 8 seasons. Someone who is going to spend their 20s as a problem on the basepaths. If steals really are back, and that's what it looks like, Clase could be the guy who starts swiping 40-50 bags a season.