Injuries and Return Timelines for Three of Minnesota’s Top 5 Prospects

[Cody Christie]

Three of Minnesota’s top five prospects have suffered injuries during spring training. What are their prognoses, and when can we expect to see them back on the field?

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (Jenkins, Raya), Rob Thompson (Rodriguez)

Recently, I wrote about the Twins having a disturbing trend of top prospects being injured during critical development years. Royce Lewis, Byron Buxton, and Alex Kirilloff are just a few of the team’s top-ranked prospects whose injuries significantly impacted their big-league careers. Minor injuries can slow development timelines, but the cumulative effect of multiple injuries can take a much greater toll. Hopefully, this group will escape that fate, but for now, we need to stay abreast of the issues with which they're already dealing.

Walker Jenkins, OF
TD Top Prospect Rank: 1
Injury: Left ankle sprain
Jenkins was diagnosed with a mild ankle sprain, sustained when jumping for a ball during spring training. The Athletic's Dan Hayes reported that Jenkins will be barred from baseball activities while the injury heals. It's considered a minor injury, but it's still disappointing after his 2024 season was also disrupted by injuries. Last year, he suffered a hamstring injury in the season opener and was sidelined until May 20. Even with a delayed start, he was able to move from Low–A Ft. Myers to Double-A Wichita by the season’s end.

“He’s just working his way back, but we don’t think it’s going to impact him in terms of being ready for the season,” Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll said. “We’re getting close. … I don’t know if it’ll literally be for the first minor-league game, but he’ll be in a good spot, as games are getting close, to get built up.”

Return Timeline: The club reports that he is one to two weeks behind. He may be able to play in games on the minor-league side before the end of March. 

Emmanuel Rodriguez, OF
TD Top Prospect Rank: 2
Injury: Sprained left ankle
Rodriguez has been sidelined since the middle of February with a sprained ankle that the Twins are calling a Grade 2 sprain. That means it’s a worse sprain than the one suffered by Jenkins. He’s also spent the offseason recovering from thumb surgery, due to a ligament tear. In 2024, he was limited to 47 games because of the recurring thumb issue. Minnesota continued to be aggressive with his promotion and moved him to Triple-A St. Paul to end the year. Rodriguez is a global top-40 prospect, but he’s been limited to fewer than 100 games in every professional season. He might have the highest ceiling in the Twins organization, but injuries have limited his ability to showcase his five-tool talent. 

Return Timeline: He is beginning a running progression and is further behind the other two. His return from a thumb injury is also slowing him down. He might not be ready for the season’s start, especially if the club wants to prevent him from playing in colder weather. 

Marco Raya, RHP
TD Top Prospect Rank: 5
Injury: Strained left quadriceps
Raya was scheduled to pitch in Friday’s Grapefruit League game, but he suffered a left quad strain during his bullpen session, leading into the game. During his professional career, the Twins have aggressively promoted Raya, even while limiting his pitch count and innings. In his first 55 career appearances, there was only one time when he threw more than 75 pitches. The Twins let him cross the 75-pitch mark in multiple appearances at the end of last season, so it becomes a balancing act of keeping pitchers healthy while also building a starter’s workload. It will be a critical season for Raya to prove he can increase his innings and pitch count.

Return Timeline: The club reports that he should throw to hitters this week and pitch in a game next week. He should return to play before Jenkins and Rodriguez. 

All three of these prospects have the potential to impact the Twins roster this season, especially since Rodriguez and Raya finished last season at Triple-A. Health and performance are key for any player trying to break into the big leagues. Unfortunately, this trio is already behind to start the year, even if they are minor injuries.

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Which prospect’s injury history should the club be most worried about? What are your expectations for this trio? Leave a comment and start the discussion. 

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[jmlease1]

@%*&#$%!!!!

Can we just for once get some good injury luck with our top prospects?!?!

None of these injuries look particularly serious and shouldn't have any long-term ramifications, but...GOD.

If I had to pick, I'm most concerned with Rodriguez. Because it always seems to be something. He's super talented, so it sucks that he's missing so much time battling through one ding after another.

[LambchoP]

I just had to laugh when I heard the news that our top 3 prospects were already hurt. We always seem to have our top guys injured, but this year we couldn't even make it to opening day? Is this a precursor to losing some combo of Buxton Correa and Lewis on opening day like last year? What is it with this team that we can't seem to keep anyone healthy? At least most of these injuries seem minor,but so did Jenkins ' hamstring last year and look how long he was out....

[arby58]

Injuries don't only impact the Twins - they were not even close to the MLB team that lost the most games to injury last year (11th, according to Spotrack, 13th the year before, and 12th the year before that). When we're talking stuff like sprained ankles, I think we should all relax. 

That said, Emma is the one that is most concerning, given his history.

[PDX Twin]

52 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

Can we just for once get some good injury luck with our top prospects?!?!

Is it luck?

[Karbo]

Must be a Minnesota jinx. Look at how many Wild players have been hurt, and now we're starting out with Twins players getting hurt. Are us poor "fly over" citizens doomed to suffer through a season of injuries with the ball club too?

[Patzky]

1 hour ago, LambchoP said:

I just had to laugh when I heard the news that our top 3 prospects were already hurt. We always seem to have our top guys injured, but this year we couldn't even make it to opening day? Is this a precursor to losing some combo of Buxton Correa and Lewis on opening day like last year? What is it with this team that we can't seem to keep anyone healthy? At least most of these injuries seem minor,but so did Jenkins ' hamstring last year and look how long he was out....

Be glad we aren't losing guys as fast as the Yankees are.

[gman]

44 minutes ago, Patzky said:

Be glad we aren't losing guys as fast as the Yankees are.

Somehow I don't mind the Yankees losing players. Or the Dodgers either.

[gman]

Unfortunately our best prospects getting injured probably means more lost time for future starters. Maybe get everyone in the top 40 prospect list a personal trainer. Plus the majors maybe 2 trainers each.

[Guest]

What about our worst prospects and organizational filler? I bet they get injured too. I agree with arby58, all players are subject to getting injured. Let’s stop with the pity party.

[arby58]

1 hour ago, gman said:

Unfortunately our best prospects getting injured probably means more lost time for future starters. Maybe get everyone in the top 40 prospect list a personal trainer. Plus the majors maybe 2 trainers each.

There is no personal trainer that is going to be able to conclusively prevent ankle sprains.

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, arby58 said:

There is no personal trainer that is going to be able to conclusively prevent ankle sprains.

Get these guys some ankle support!

[gman]

2 hours ago, arby58 said:

There is no personal trainer that is going to be able to conclusively prevent ankle sprains.

Unfortunately that's true.  But since I started wearing minimalist shoes, I haven't had a single sprained ankle while running in over 10 years. Or playing basketball or softball. Maybe just a coincidence.

[Otaknam]

The injuries do make me wonder if this is just another perfect storm of random injuries to top prospects or if there is something wrong with their team training routines. It does seem like this team has more injuries to key players than other teams.

[nicksaviking]

16 hours ago, gman said:

Unfortunately that's true.  But since I started wearing minimalist shoes, I haven't had a single sprained ankle while running in over 10 years. Or playing basketball or softball. Maybe just a coincidence.

I haven't had a sprained ankle in like 25 years, ever since I stopped playing baseball, basketball, football and track or basically any physical activity.

Pretty sure I should be marketing this secret strategy.

[TwinsDr2021]

17 hours ago, gman said:

Unfortunately that's true.  But since I started wearing minimalist shoes, I haven't had a single sprained ankle while running in over 10 years. Or playing basketball or softball. Maybe just a coincidence.

Personal trainer? probably no, but a physical therapist should be able to, there are many exercises that can strength the ankle muscles and ligaments and make them more flexible. I was rehabbing a double sprained ankle back in college and my therapist said if I continue to do the exercises even minimally I would never sprain that ankle again, and I haven't my other one I have multiple times but never put in the work required on that one.

[Obsvr]

So does baseball even really need a spring training?  Why not just have these guys show up in April and get going.  

[twinstalker]

If Raya is limited to three or four innings, how will we know whether it's the injury?