Cincinnati Reds expected big things from Desmond Jennings, but he couldn’t make it through spring training

Desmond Jennings has had trouble staying healthy, but the Cincinnati Reds hoped to reap the rewards of a comeback season.

The Cincinnati Reds needed to find a primary bench player in light of Jose Peraza’s move into the everyday line-up.  Prior to the signing of Desmond Jennings and Ryan Raburn that person appeared to be Arismendy Alcantara.  Now the question is whether Jennings was beaten out or lost the role on his own.  The Reds released him the Friday before Opening Day.

Jennings batted .200 over 65 games with seven home runs in 2016.  These are not normal numbers for Jennings.  He is more of a .250 hitter with about nine home runs per season.  As with many players, though, playing time can regulate Jennings’ output.

In 2015 Jennings only played 28 games due to injuries, but he looked more like his normal self.  He batted .268 with a .324 OBP.  He was also on pace to create 50 runs, which is just a notch below his career norm.

Defensively, Jennings always graded out as a center fielder, but he spent much of career with in the Tampa Bay Rays playing in left field due to the presence of Kevin Kiermaier.  Throughout his career Jennings has been better in center field than in left.

Desmond Jennings wasn’t going to be an everyday player for the Cincinnati Reds, but he could have provided a veteran bench presence.

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With injuries slowing him down for the past two years, Jennings may have trouble with his batting average and OBP, but the Reds could have used his power.  He could play in as many as 135 games among pinch hitting, late inning replacements, and the occasional start for someone this season.  If he hit one home run per ten games in the small playing Great American Ballpark, he could have hit 13 home runs for the Reds.

The Reds would have used Jennings as the primary right-handed pinch hitter.  With enough opportunity he could have created 60 runs and stolen 20 bases.

Those numbers are a bit optimistic, but not if the Reds went without Billy Hamilton due to injuries, even sharing time with the new heart of the bench, Alcantara.

Jennings’ weakness as a National League player besides his injury history is that there would have been more partial games.  He will likely average a strikeout per game or close to it if he plays somewhere this year.  That means that he may have made more sense as a pinch hitter earlier in games.  He may have made sense as part of a double switch later in games.  That may not have fit the Reds’ plans.

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Hopefully, Alcantara will be an upgrade over Tyler Holt, despite not starting to play outfield until 2014.  Last year, aside from Jose Peraza, the Reds coming off of the bench were pretty weak offensively.  With a young pitching staff the Reds will need all of the runs they can muster.  Otherwise letting Jennings go could have been a huge mistake.