The Mets have signed outfielder Desmond Jennings to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Las Vegas, tweets James Wagner of the New York Times. Jennings, a client of the Boras Corporation, spent Spring Training with the Reds but was released late in camp.
Jennings, 30, hit .195/.300/.415 with two home runs and two steals in his 18 games with Cincinnati this spring — an apparent continuation of the struggles that’ve plagued him in recent seasons. Once one of the game’s top overall prospects based on a promising blend of power and speed, Jennings’ career has been slowed significantly by leg injuries, including knee surgery back in 2015.
After hitting .249/.327/.402 in just under 2000 plate appearances from 2011-14; along the way he hit between 10 and 14 homers and racked up between 15 and 31 steals in each of those four campaigns. Since that time, though, Jennings owns an anemic .222/.295/.347 batting line in 333 trips to the plate.
It’s not clear that Jennings is a reliable option in center field anymore — the Rays shifted him to left field in 2015, though some of that was due to Kevin Kiermaier’s emergence — but Jennings does have experience there. He also provides the Mets with a potential right-handed complement to a rather left-leaning collection of outfielders, including Curtis Granderson, Jay Bruce and Michael Conforto. Of course, it’s far from certain that Jennings will ever surface in the bigs with the Mets, though he’s headed to a very hitter-friendly environment, which shouldn’t hurt his chances at rediscovering some confidence and getting into a good offensive groove at the plate.
SimplyAmazin91
Interesting. I guess good for depth
Solaris611
He must have really been struggling for the Reds to release him.
braves95 2
Conforto/Jennings platoon >>>>> Jay Bruce
Sportfeen69
Not bad
Matt Rox
I’m glad my Giants got Drew Stubbs, but they could still use more OF depth. Jennings would’ve been a good add for them. The Mets have a great outfield. All three of their OF starters are capable of hitting over .300, and all able to hit over 40 HR. Their bench OF is almost as decent.
thegreatcerealfamine
The Mets have a great outfield..are you nuts.
thatmansaballoon
Granderson nor Bruce will come close to 300 this year. Decent outfield at best and I’m a met fan.
bleedblueandorange
Hahahaha they all can hit 300. Let me hit that.
Matt Rox
Granderson 2017: Games: 141. HR: 48. AVG: .311
Conforto 2017: Games: 152. HR: 41. AVG .302
Bruce 2017. Games: 150. HR: 45. AVG .312
GareBear
I’m not sure where you are getting those numbers but I would suggest not getting your hopes up
whatcommonsense
Much like the president, he saw it on tv so they must be true… it was video game, but still, it was on the tv.
CardinalsNation1
Lmmfao
thegreatcerealfamine
Those projections are beyond ludicrous! Jennings has never hit more then 14 homers and never played more then 139 games. Dude put down the pipe!
ExileInLA 2
Matt Rox – did you forget Cespedes?
reflect
Is this using the metric system or something
Bill
You forgot Cespedes there. Will all 4 of them hit over 40 homers while at least one isn’t playing full-time? That would be impressive! Or was your post intended to be a joke?
bleedblueandorange
Out of your mind.
bleedblueandorange
Hahaha you’re lucky if Grandy and Bruce hit over 250.
Matt Rox
If Jenning played full time, here is my projected 2017 for him if he played and started in every game, which I know he won’t.
Games: 162
HR: 24
AVG: .239
Still good for a bench player.
lesterdnightfly
How does a bench player play 162 games?
(BTW, love that 1940s reliance on BP as a measure of performance. dot dot dot dash and V for Victory ! )
Ryan Barnes
Read the whole comment. He never said he would. He actually said twice that he wouldn’t.
lesterdnightfly
I did. Still doesn’t matter, those power projections are nuts.
CardinalsNation1
He’s Trolling big time
thegreatcerealfamine
Don’t worry Mets fans Tim Kardashian is knocking on the door!
metseventually 2
I really really like this one. Now for Bruce to get out…
mogwai123
Bruce hit over .300??? LOL