twinkle, twinkle

It should be fun to watch Desmond Jennings this season. His star is definitely rising. The former Itawamba Community College standout, who’ll break camp as Tampa Bay’s left fielder and leadoff batter, is batting .381 this spring after banging out two more hits on Sunday. The former football player (see previous posts) apparently suffered no ill effects from a nasty collision with Rays teammate B.J. Upton on Wednesday. Major League Baseball Yearbook projects Jennings’ 2012 numbers like this: .269, 15 homers, 50 RBIs, 96 runs and 45 steals. With his speed, he could hit much better than .269. Tampa Bay gave the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Jennings a look in 2010 and a much longer one last summer. He cooled after a hot start and wound up at .259 with 10 homers and 20 steals in 63 games. He might be an All-Star come July.