Jason Jennings
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- For the professional basketball player, see Jason Jennings (basketball)
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| Texas Rangers — No. 31 | |
| Starting pitcher | |
| Born: July 17, 1978 | |
| Bats: Left | Throws: Right |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
| August 23, 2001 for the Colorado Rockies | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through April 28, 2008) |
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| Win-Loss | 60-69 |
| Earned run average | 4.97 |
| Strikeouts | 705 |
| Teams | |
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Jason Ryan Jennings (born July 17, 1978 in Dallas, Texas) is a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Texas Rangers.
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[edit] High school/college years
Jennings attended Poteet High School in Mesquite, Texas, and was a standout in both football and baseball. In football, he won All-District honors at both, kicker and punter. In baseball, as a senior, he was named the District M.V.P and posted a .410 batting average, hit seven home runs, and pitched his way to a 10-3 record and a 0.92 E.R.A. with 132 Strikeouts.
After graduating from Poteet, he attended Baylor University where he played baseball from 1997 - 1999. Following his junior season at Baylor, Jennings was named by both Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball as the 1999 National Player of the Year. In what would be his final season at Baylor, he struck out 172 hitters in 146.2 innings and hit .382 with 17 homers and 68 RBI. He also won his second consecutive Big 12 Player of the Year, consensus All-America honors, the Outstanding Player on the 1999 Big 12 All Tournament Team, and a spot on the 1999 All-Big 12 Academic First Team.
[edit] Professional career
As a member of the Colorado Rockies, Jason posted his most impressive numbers in the 2002 season when he won the Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award in the National League, beating out Brad Wilkerson and Austin Kearns. The fact that half of his games were pitched at Coors Field in Denver (a difficult park for pitchers) made the feat that much more remarkable.[citation needed] In his Major League debut, Jennings hit a home run and tossed a complete game shutout, becoming the first Major Leaguer to accomplish that feat.[1]
From 2003 to 2005, Jennings had three losing seasons and posted an ERA above 5 each year. In 2006, Jennings pitched much better, ending the season with a 3.78 ERA, but had only a 9-13 record due to a lack of run support that ranked near the bottom of the league. From May 29th to the end of the season, Jason Jennings had a 3.17 ERA, which was 4th in the Majors and 2nd in the NL behind Roy Oswalt. He also finished with over 200 innings pitched. He ended his career with the Rockies as the franchise's all-time winningest pitcher. [2]
On December 12, the Rockies traded Jennings, along with Miguel Asencio, to the Houston Astros for Willy Taveras, Taylor Buchholz and Jason Hirsh. The deal seems to have worked in the favor of the Rockies, who made it to the 2007 World Series with Taveras at the top of the order. Both Buchholz and Hirsh pitched decently in their first season with the Rockies.
2007 was a lackluster year with the Astros for Jennings. In a game against the Padres, he gave up 11 earned runs on 8 hits in two-thirds of an inning with three walks and no strikeouts. [3]
On January 17, 2008 he signed a one-year contract with the Texas Rangers.
[edit] Miscellaneous
Jennings and his wife, Kelly, have three children, son Braden, and daughter Bailee. His father, Jim, played baseball for the University of Texas and professionally in the Texas Rangers system. His late grandfather, James Jennings, was the long-time public address announcer for the Dallas Cowboys and Mesquite Championship Rodeo.
[edit] Scouting Report
Assuming Jennings is healthy, his primary pitch which is the sinker can reach in the low 90s. His sinker is his best pitch, and thus is most effective when getting ground ball outs. His sinker seems to go into right handers and moves away from left handers. Occasionally, to add in some mix, he'll also use a changeup and slider.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Albert Pujols |
National League Rookie of the Year 2002 |
Succeeded by Dontrelle Willis |
| Preceded by Albert Pujols |
Players Choice NL Most Outstanding Rookie 2002 |
Succeeded by Scott Podsednik |
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