Has Walker Jenkins Done Enough to Prove His Doubters Wrong in 2025?

[NYCTK]

2 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

It's fair that people including me are probably too down on Roden because of the trade that brought him here, but what has Roden really done to get enthusiastic about? He's hit well in less than a season's worth of ABs in AAA and totally flopped in his first taste of MLB. Martin wasn't great in his first taste of MLB at age 25 either, but he was better than Roden. Roden didn't even look particularly good in the OF.

I wouldn't say I'm enthusiastic about Roden, in fact I said he'll probably suck too. But he's been better than Martin at every level up until about 2 weeks ago when Martin started to actually do something with his many opportunities, and Roden is a year younger. 

Martin has been nigh unplayable in the OF until very recently apparently (not watching so I can't say for sure) but I'd bet a lot of money on Roden as a defender over Martin going forward. Martin was so bad last year he was somehow undeserving of playing ahead of Manuel Margot. 

But regardless, my criticism is of someone saying they'd be fine with Martin or Fedko but suspected Twins would get STUCK with Roden. Which is just an uneducated comment. Especially since he has options (as do the others!) and the Twins aren't stuck with any of them. 

[Fatbat]

Roden is either gonna hit or be a AAAA guy. Same with Martin and his endless gaffes. The 4 studs are coming fast and we only need 2 to stick. 3 would be lottery type winnings. 

[T.O.]

6 hours ago, NYCTK said:

... stupidity that had people upset ...

,,, despite what the uninformed rubes here often cry about ...

 

 

👍 for most of the comment.
👎👎👎👎 for the above.

[NYCTK]

5 minutes ago, T.O. said:

👍 for most of the comment.
👎👎👎👎 for the above.

I'm rude, but I'm right.

 

[T.O.]

7 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

I'm rude, but I'm right.

 

If that belief is what sustains you good for you.
You must go crazy reading posts on this site. Maybe you could write articles to educate stupid rubes like us.
Or better yet find a forum with more right thinking members like you.

I'm voting for the later.

[twinstalker]

What doubters?

[twinstalker]

7 hours ago, NYCTK said:

I wouldn't say I'm enthusiastic about Roden, in fact I said he'll probably suck too. But he's been better than Martin at every level up until about 2 weeks ago when Martin started to actually do something with his many opportunities, and Roden is a year younger. 

Martin has been nigh unplayable in the OF until very recently apparently (not watching so I can't say for sure) but I'd bet a lot of money on Roden as a defender over Martin going forward. Martin was so bad last year he was somehow undeserving of playing ahead of Manuel Margot. 

But regardless, my criticism is of someone saying they'd be fine with Martin or Fedko but suspected Twins would get STUCK with Roden. Which is just an uneducated comment. Especially since he has options (as do the others!) and the Twins aren't stuck with any of them. 

If our future is discussing Martin vs Roden,  probably better to find something else to do with our summers.

[Trov]

This is just a we need to write something article.  Most rankings had him top 5, when you are up there the difference is minimal, also it does not mean anything as to which player will be the true better MLB player.  In terms of the drop in fangraphs, they may rank power as a more important tool, as some do, than other tools and will take people with more proven power.  The kid looks the part and I fully expect he will be at MLB level early next year.  I am hoping we can agree to a 7 year deal so they will not delay in calling him up, but if they do not, I expect he will be a late April call up, to get that extra year of arb to get 7 years of control. 

[NYCTK]

11 hours ago, T.O. said:

You must go crazy reading posts on this site.

Nah. The stupid comments you come across on this site are within the normal bounds of wrong. Especially when you remember at the same time literally 40% of this country are essentially in a cult supporting a fascist and Jeffrey Epstein's best friend. This is the fun reprieve from that ****ed up reality. 

[Chembry]

17 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

It's fair that people including me are probably too down on Roden because of the trade that brought him here, but what has Roden really done to get enthusiastic about? He's hit well in less than a season's worth of ABs in AAA and totally flopped in his first taste of MLB. Martin wasn't great in his first taste of MLB at age 25 either, but he was better than Roden. Roden didn't even look particularly good in the OF.

I also think most are too down on Roden.  I do believe the sole reason is the trade deadline and in particular, the trade that brought him to MN.  The initial series in Cleveland he went 1/10 with 6Ks and the knee jerk reactions were very loud. 

Many guys struggle in their first taste of MLB pitching.  His AAA stats suggest he could be a decent MLB hitter.  We need to give him some time to adjust.  I had a bunch of stats typed out showing his AAA numbers are better than Buxton's, Jarren Duran, Jackson Holiday, and very similar to Roman Anthony, but I deleted them.  FWIW, none of the guys mentioned never played a full season at AAA.  Most played a similar amount of games to Roden.  

By no means am I suggesting that he will be the hitter any of them are, or even an everyday contributor, but he should be allowed some leeway (not 12G in MN) before we start to get too down on him. 

When comparing other stats to Martin:

Defensively, Roden is the better defender as it stands today.  Roden's fielding run value is 3 vs Martin's -2.  Roden posted a 2 OAA vs Martins -1.  Roden has better arm strength averaging 88,8 mph vs Martin's 83.9.  Sprint speeds are quite similar with Martin edging out Roden at 28.2 ft/s vs 27.8 ft/s.  This could change because Martin is certainly improving.

All of this is a long way to say, Roden seems to have the tools to be a decent MLB hitter and defensively is well above MLB average (75th percentile in fielding run value, 79th percentile in arm strength, and 82nd percentile in OAA).

Roden should be given every opportunity to win a starting spot in spring training next year alongside Martin, Jenkins, ERod, Fedko, etc... If he can't adjust, we have the depth to adjust.

[NYCTK]

6 hours ago, twinstalker said:

If our future is discussing Martin vs Roden,  probably better to find something else to do with our summers.

Nah. Embrace debates like that. Only one team wins the World Series but 30 teams get to have meaningless discussions over the merits of their fringe players. 

 

[Bodie]

Since he didn't (again) stay healthy, he didn't answer the one question attached to him...