One of DeKalb County High School’s notables is advancing through the professional baseball system as the Tiger’s own Steven Jennings has been promoted to an AA team.

Jennings, a standout both on the baseball diamond and the gridiron for DeKalb County, was taken by the Pittsburg Pirates in the second round of the 2017 draft. Since then, the righty’s pitching has steadily improved making him one of the system’s top pitching prospects.

In June, Jennings was sent to the “High-A” Greensboro Hornets, after beginning the year in Low-A ball at Bradenton, Florida. Last year, in Low-A, through 130 innings, he had a 4.71 ERA, 4.23 FIP, and 1.33 WHIP, and posted the best strikeout and walk numbers of his career with a strikeout rate above 20% at 20.9%. He posted a career best walk rate at 7.1%. 

Last week, Jennings was again promoted, this time being called up to the AA (Double-A) Altoona Curve in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He was scheduled to make his first pitching debut on Sunday, but the game was cancelled due to rain.

After his call-up to Greensboro, Jennings went 3-0 with a 3.20 ERA while throwing 19.2 (19 2/3) innings. He walked three, struck out 12 hitters and allowed 17 hits. The batting average against Jennings was only .227. Between the two teams, Jennings is 5-0 on the year with a 3.00 ERA in 36 innings pitched, with 31 strikeouts.

According to rumbunter.com, Jennings has four pitches at his disposal: a fastball, slider, curveball, and change up. “Jennings is your typical soft-tossing starting pitcher. His fastball sits in the high-80s, low-90s. However, it has an above average spin rate. Out of all the Pittsburgh Pirates pitching prospects, he has the second most RPM on the pitch with 2500.”

“Out of all his pitches, his slider is the best. FanGraphs pins it at a future of 55 while MLB Pipeline also places it at 55. That’s because, like with his fastball, it has a lot of spin. He reached the 3000 RPM plateau with the pitch. He is one of only nine pitchers to be able to reach that mark. His curveball grades at around average with a 50 from both FanGraphs and MLB Pipeline. According to MLB Pipeline’s scouting report, the right hander has a good feel for both breaking pitches. He also throws the change-up to mix things up, however it’s probably his worst pitch with a 35 current/45 future grade per FanGraphs.”

Jennings was selected by Pirates in second round of 2017 draft; signed June 22, 2017, then was assigned to Bradenton Marauders. He was later assigned to Greensboro Grasshoppers, and from there he was sent to the Altoona Curve.