Saturday, August 27, 2016

Farewell Desmond Jennings

Desmond Jennings has been on the Rays for as long as I have written this blog.  As a former player for the Durham Bulls, I was a little surprised when I went to search out some posts I had made of the former top prospect that I have made very few.  Desmond Jennings had a good start with the Rays, but has fizzled the last few years, before the Rays decided to part ways with him today.

I usually make these posts Farewell type posts about players who are retiring like Juan Pierre.  By no means do I think that Desmond Jennings is finished in baseball.  There are too many skills there that someone is going to roll the dice on signing him.  At 29, I would hope that a change of scenery can bring out some of the potential that I enjoyed while watching him patrol the outfield in Durham.

Desmond Jennings was rated no lower than the eighteenth best prospect in baseball during his time with the Bulls.  Prior to the 2010 season he was rated in the Top 10 by both Baseball Prospectus and Baseball America.  So why so few cards?

I ended up going through my card boxes for a few minutes last night after I heard about his impending release from the Rays today.  I found an autograph....


That's a nice card, but there have to be a few that I am missing out on?  Well, there are a bunch of TriStar type autographs, but I try to avoid those like the plague.  So, really this is it for Desmond Jennings and autographs.  Top 10 prospect with one certified autograph card?  Consider me surprised.
I also scoured my relic cards.  I found something really nice that I had completely forgotten about picking up.  I actually have a whole bunch of his relic cards.  It seems like he does game-used cards pretty regularly.  While I posted those frequently when I first started blogging, I pretty much skip those nowadays.  This relic card is too sweet not to post....


Wherever Desmond ends up playing the rest of the season, or if he doesn't reappear until next season, hopefully it ends better than his time in Tampa.  Maybe we could get a few more nice cards with his next team.  Dare I say an autograph or two more would be nice...

3 comments:

  1. Given how bad the free agent market is for outfielders is next year, it wouldn't surprise me to see a team take a shot on him.

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  3. I really wish Jennings the best of luck. I will never forget the look on his face when I took an Alfredo Soriano McFarlane fig and customized it in a Durham Bulls' uniform. He really liked it and signed the base. He is a really nice guy which makes all of this sad.

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