The Golden Sombrero’s Top 50 Prospects: #10 – Desmond Jennings (Video) | The Golden Sombrero Baseball Blog | MLB, Fantasy, College & High School Baseball News

The Golden Sombrero’s Top 50 Prospects: #10 – Desmond Jennings (Video)

#10 Desmond Jennings – Tampa Bay Rays

OF

DOB: 10-30-86

ETA: 2011

As the top position prospect for Tampa, Jennings comes associated with a great deal of hype.  He hit for a respectable slash line of .278/.362/.393 at Durham as a 23-year-old.  Those numbers seem a little soft to us at the Sombrero, and they were considerably better in 2009, which suggests that he may struggle against advanced pitching.

Regardless, Jennings walks at around a 10% clip, and he has excellent speed that plays well both on the bases (he stole 37 bases at Triple-A) and in the outfield.  Jennings should open 2011 at one of the corner spots at Tropicana and stay there as long as he can get on base at better than a .320 clip or so.  He has far more upside than this, and,given his age, we still think he is way more of the 2009 player than the 2010 player.  His swing suggests that more power at the plate is on the way.

The key reason we were so aggressive with this ranking is that Jennings has a clear route to a starting gig on one of the best teams in baseball in the game’s top division.  There are very few position prospects in the game who can boast that, and Jennings brings a lot of very intriguing tools and athleticism to the yard.  He is often compared to B.J. Upton, and we think those comparisons are justified.  Like Upton, Jennings gives us a lot to dream on.

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  1. Top 50 Prospects Update: Taillon, Teheran, Chapman, Moustakas and Jennings | The Golden Sombrero