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I've seen the future of CF and his name is Jennings

Poor relay throws, lousy baserunning, misjudged fly balls, ugly instincts....

That pretty much described last night's Vero Rays vs. Reds game. It was sad watching most of the action....

Then came Desmond.

There was a shot heading for the gap in right-center field and the moment it left the bat, Jennings was on the move in the right direction (very un BJ like). And honestly, it didn't look like he was running that hard....but all of a sudden he was Andruw Jones, circa 1999, tracking the ball down. It was just beautiful. All of a sudden BJ's refusal to sign long term seems less troubling.

Though he had only one hit, each swing was really solid. Even his outs were hard outs. Anyhow, everything he did justified him being our best outfield prospect in the system.

Now for the ugly (and there was plenty):

-If that is the way Rocco Baldelli now has to run...Yikes. I mean there's a beatable infield hit and he is in a deliberate trot. I believe David Ortiz could have beaten him to the bag. Now, maybe he had just given up on the play as he came out of the box, given it is an A ball game. But boy, if that's how Rocco is going to play for now on, he's of no value. Will he be able to get to second on a shot in the gap?

- Evan Longoria shouldn't be worried at all about Cesar Suarez replacing him at third ever. Ranging two steps right or left is clearly asking too much for Suarez who made this silly dive to his left in which I swear if he just made two steps over he'd have had it. All night it seemed like he was in concrete shoes.

-Neil Walton gets lots of praise as having a great infield arm. And he sure does. He took a relay through from right field and launched a throw to the back stop on a rope. It was 10 feet higher than the catcher. I wondered if his eyes were open when he threw the ball.

-And LF Garrett Groce did his best BJ Upton. At the crack of the bat he started going back on the ball, which then dropped in front of him for a run scoring singled...sheesh. And at bat, he looked back at the ump on several called strikes.

Anyhow with David Price and Jeremy Hellickson gone, it appears Jennings is a man among boys in High-A ball.

 

This post was written by a member of the DRaysBay community and does not necessarily express the views or opinions of DRaysBay staff.