Mound Talk

Background and Stats
Jennings was a High School football star destined to play collegiate football at Alabama but a little legal trouble changed his future and he headed for Junior College to play baseball.

Jennings was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 18th Round of the 2005 draft out of high school but elected not to sign. The following year, the then-Devil Rays took him with their 10th Round selection. He was assigned to Princeton of the Appalachian (Rookie) League and spent all of 2007 in Columbus, of the Low-A South Atlantic League.

Jennings stands at 6-foot-2 weighing in at 180 pounds. He bats and throws right-handed. Jennings has very good tools and began to show excellent production in 2007. He is a very good defensive centerfielder and possesses very good instincts.

Jennings 2006 season in Princeton began to touch his potential but it wasn’t until 2007 that his offensive number started to match up with what his potential suggested it could be. In 246 Rookie-League plate appearances, Jennings hit .277/.354/.390. He struck out in 15.9% of his Pas and walked in 8.9%. He recorded just 15 extra-base hits and predominantly hit the ball on the ground. Finally, he swiped 32 of 37 bases.

At the age of 20, Jennings tackled Low-A where he hit .315/.400/.466. His strikeout rate dropped to 11.7% and his walk rate jumped to 10.3%. In 446 plate appearances (and 384 at-bats) he hit 35 extra-base hits. Although that’s not overwhelming, it shows dramatic improvement as a result of an increase in batted balls in the air. Jennings stole 45 of 60 bases.

Scouting Report
Jennings most prominent tool is his speed. He is one of the fastest prospects in baseball. He not only possesses well above-average speed but he knows how to use it. He’ll swipe plenty of bases though he needs to work on his success rate and improve it somewhat. Perhaps more importantly, he uses his speed well to take extra bases when possible. Jennings also uses his speed well defensively, however, like with any young outfielder, he needs to work on his lines and take cleaner routes to fly balls.

At the plate, Jennings has good discipline. He’s already shown an improvement in both his K- and BB-rates over his first two seasons. He works the count well and understands which pitches are best for him to hit. In 2007, that helped him drive the ball better than in 2006. As Jennings matures, he should be more successful in this area and continue to see improvement both in his stats and his value to his team.

Jennings projects to be a prototypical leadoff hitter with some pop. As described, his speed and discipline are very good. The other component of a good leadoff hitter is the ability to put the ball in play to capitalize on his speed and help “set the table” so to speak. Jennings swing is balanced and calm. He makes good contact at his body, not in front of his body. Jennings projects to be a .300 hitter at the big league level.

Just about the only thing lacking from Jennings game at the moment is power. Jennings doesn’t have much power at the moment but can certainly develop some degree of power. He’ll never be a big time home run threat but he looks like a 15-20 home run player. Jennings is able to drive the ball gap-to-gap well however. He uses a smooth stroke and keeps his hands back well so he’s able to really put the bulk of the energy he generates into the ball. With his speed, he’s able to stretch some of his hits into an extra base. His gap-to-gap power is good enough and if he can add a little bulk to his frame, he’ll be solid in the power department.

Future
Desmond Jennings has a bright future ahead of him. With solid defense, great tools and a good organization, Jennings is in a prime position to succeed. In an ideal world, Jennings has the potential to be a .300/.400/.500 player. However, a more likely scenario is that Jennings becomes a .300/.380/.460 player who is very valuable as a leadoff hitter and very skilled defensively. He has Gold Glove potential defensively and will swipe plenty of bases.

Koby Schellenger can be reached at koby.schellenger@moundtalk.com. Visit our forum to discuss this article.