Walker Jenkins’ first taste of the majors has been a hard landing, but the Twins may be best served by letting the 21-year-old keep swinging through it.
The numbers have been ugly through his first 12 games. Jenkins is 4-for-34 with one home run, and that blast came against Tigers utilityman Zach McKinstry.
Wednesday brought another rough line in a 7-2 loss to Detroit, when Jenkins went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts. Over his last 27 plate appearances, he’s 1-for-22 with 10 strikeouts.
That’s not the debut stretch fans were dreaming about all August, when Jenkins was the prospect they most wanted to see in Minnesota. But the call-up didn’t happen until Byron Buxton’s latest trip to the injured list forced the issue, and with Buxton now headed toward the operating table, the Twins’ September outlook has changed with it.
Jenkins had earned the look. In 69 games at Triple-A St.
Paul, he hit .308/.407/.532 with 12 homers, 28 RBI and 17 steals in 21 tries. And he was finishing even louder, batting .411/.488/.795 with eight homers, 13 RBI and seven stolen bases over 18 August games.
At a time when Minnesota was still chasing the American League’s final playoff spot, the offense was dragging, Trevor Larnach, Austin Martin and Alan Roden were all stuck in slumps, and Luke Keaschall’s bat wasn’t enough to offset the defense.
The Twins still held off. Some around the club believed the hesitation was tied to preserving Jenkins’s ability to play minor league baseball in case a lockout spills into next season.
Dan Hayes of The Athletic also speculated the front office wanted more power before making the move. In the end, Buxton’s injury opened the door.
So far, the major league adjustment has been bumpy. Baseball Savant paints the picture of a hitter still finding his footing, with the numbers outside of his chase and walk rates offering little comfort:
Expected Batting Average: .174
Expected Slugging Percentage: .273
Average Exit Velocity: 86.0 mph
Barrel Rate: 4.3%
Hard-Hit Rate: 34.8%
Squared-Up Rate: 19.4%
Chase Rate: 24.4%
Whiff Rate: 31.9%
Strikeout Rate: 23.7%
Walk Rate: 13.2%
Still, September gives the Twins a clear path: keep playing him. With playoff hopes fading, there’s less reason to protect the at-bats and more reason to let Jenkins absorb them. Buxton is unlikely to return this season, which should leave center field wide open for Jenkins and give him the everyday reps the club worried about when it brought him up.
That’s the real value now. Not the box score from one night, but the chance to see what Jenkins learns from a full month of major league pitching.
If he finishes strong, he can carry that momentum into the offseason and into a 2027 season that could be his first full year with the Twins. And if Buxton is healthy again by then, a hot September could even help Jenkins position himself for a corner spot on Opening Day - or more - if Buxton is limited to designated hitter duty.
The start hasn’t matched the hype. But the Twins still have time to let Jenkins turn this into something useful.
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For Minnesota, that matters because the move was never only about the immediate stretch run. Reyes, Baltimores No. 24 prospect, has struggled in Single-A and does not look close to the big leagues, while Kremer is being viewed as the kind of rotation arm who could still matter for the Twins in 2027. The question now is whether the stuff and the underlying numbers keep trending in the right direction long enough for Minnesota to bank on him as more than just a stopgap. [Read more 🡒]