It sounds like you are implying there is a necessarily large gap—and I don't think so.

In both cases, at some level, the almost-athiest deist and YECist are simply unwilling or unable to rule out the possibility of a hyper-poweful entity. The more sophisticated YECist tends to believe the nature of that entity is such that humans do not posess the capability to derive the reality of the universe, rather they must use faith to find the Truth.

A deist is more willing to use reason in their assessment of the nature and character of the Entity. In that way, you may say they are more rational according to LW's definition of the word. But the fundamental axiom both deists and YECists is the same: I'm too little and God is too big for me to settle on atheism.