Julio Borbon Named Texas Rangers' Starting Center Fielder

In an interview with the Dallas Morning News, Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington said that Julio Borbon will be his starting center fielder in 2011.

Washington hopes that putting Borbon in center will help keep Josh Hamilton healthy, as left field isn’t as stressful on the body as center. Nelson Cruz will continue to be in right.

With this announcement, Borbon becomes an instant fantasy sleeper in 2011.

It was a pretty awful year for Borbon in 2010. He hit just .276 with a .309 OBP and his 4.1 percent BB Percentage was the lowest of his professional career.

According to Baseball-Reference.com, Borbon really, really struggled against some of the harder throwers in the game, or “Power pitchers ( pitchers that are in the top third of the league in strikeouts plus walks).” He only hit .206 with a .227 OBP against those type of pitchers.

In 2009, Borbon did show some promise. He hit .312 and stole 19 bases in just 46 games.

If Borbon can regain his 2009 form, then he might be a good source of SBs and runs. He will be batting ninth for the Rangers, and if he can get on base, there will be a lot of producers behind him that can knock him in.

Consider drafting Borbon in the later rounds as a fourth or fifth outfielder.

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