Twins Minor League Report (4/21): Jenkins Mashes First Home Run of Season

[Steve Lein]

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints (photo of Walker Jenkins)

TRANSACTIONS

• The Minnesota Twins officially recalled LHP Kendry Rojas to the big leagues ahead of their series with the New York Mets. When he takes the mound, he will be making his MLB debut. With the St. Paul Saints so far this season he’s made two appearances, including one start, throwing six scoreless innings with 5 K’s and 2 BB’s.
• The Saints also were assigned RHP Mike Paredes and LHP Aaron Rozek from the Wichita Wind Surge to take the places of Rojas and LHP Connor Prielipp who was brought along to the Twins as their “taxi” player in New York. Prielipp will start for the Twins on Wednesday.

• In Double-A, the Wind Surge activated RHP Jose Olivares from the 7-day injured list.
• Yesterday the Cedar Rapids Kernels placed RHP Adrian Bohorquez on the 7-day injured list, activated OF Caden Kendle from the temporary inactive list, and were assigned SS Harry Genth from Fort Myers. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 5, Indianapolis 7
Box Score
With left-handers Kendry Rojas and Connor Prielipp joining the major league club, Mike Paredes joined the Saints from Wichita and made the start. He went the first 3 1/3 innings, but would end up charged with six earned runs on eight hits and a pair of walks. He struck out three, but also surrendered three home runs. 

The Saints got on the board in the top of the fourth thanks to the first home run of the season from Walker Jenkins.

Despite the unimpressive numbers to begin the 2026 season (.649 OPS), the stat above shows Jenkins has been making plenty of loud contact as well as drawing walks (11) nearly as often as he has struck out (12). Perhaps this will be the start of a heater!

In the top of the fifth Kyler Fedko and Gabriel Gonzalez joined him with two-run shots of their own to close the lead to 6-5.

Relievers Raul Brito (2 2/3 IP, 4 H, R, BB, 3 K), Matt Bowman (1 IP, K), and Dan Altavilla (1 IP, 2 K) did their best to keep the Saints in striking distance for the last half of the game, but it wasn’t meant to be.

In the top of the ninth Aaron Sabato mashed a double to give Jenkins a chance as the tying run, but his fly out to center field ended the game. Jenkins was the only hitter with multiple knocks, finishing 2-for-5 with the home run and a strike out. Emmanuel Rodriguez drew two walks. As a team the Saints were just 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position, and left only five men on base.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 6, NW Arkansas 7
Box Score
Right-hander Ryan Gallagher made the start for the Wind Surge on the road against the Naturals and kept the home team off the scoreboard for the first three innings, including three strikeouts in the first. A pair of doubles in the fourth put the first run of the game on the board for the Travelers, and they added four more in the fifth to chase Gallagher. He finished 4 1/3 innings and was charged with three earned runs on six hits and a walk, while striking out six. He threw 77 pitches, with 52 going for strikes (68%).

Spencer Bengard came on in the middle of the fifth and gave up two earned runs of his own. He allowed three hits, walked one, and struck out three in his 1 2/3 innings.

Wichita’s offense finally put something together in the top of the sixth thanks to a Hendry Mendez single, and Ricardo Olivar’s first home run of the season.

Garrett Spain added their third run of the game in the top of the seventh with his fourth home run of the season. 

Jaylin Nowlin gave that run back in the bottom half after a leadoff walk, a stolen base, and a wild-pitch to score a run without a ball leaving the infield. Kyle Bischoff had the same thing happen to him in the eighth to put the Travelers up 7-3. Nowlin walked two and struck out one in his inning, Bischoff walked one and struck out two in his.

Down four in the top of the ninth, the Wind Surge put together a rally. Andrew Cossetti led off with a single. The next three hitters drew walks before Kyle DeBarge added an RBI single. With the bases loaded and still nobody out, the Travelers made a pitching change to slow down that momentum. Hendry Mendez got them within one with an RBI groundout. Kala’i Rosario went down looking for the second out before Olivar drew another walk to reload the bases. Jorel Ortega put a good swing on a 1-2 pitch, sending a liner deep to right that would have put them out front, but it was tracked down in front of the warning track to end the game.

The offense was led by Spain (2-for-3, 2 R, 2B, HR, RBI, 2 BB, K), DeBarge (2-for-5, RBI, 2 K), and Cossetti (2-for-4, R, 2B, K). Ben Ross wasn’t able to start a new hit streak, but did draw three walks, including one with the bases loaded. In addition to his home run Olivar also drew two walks, as did Jake Rucker from the nine-hole. Despite the comeback effort, the Wind Surge still finished with just one hit in 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position, leaving 10 men on base.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 2, Peoria 7
Box Score
The Chiefs took a 1-0 lead after one against Kernels starter Eli Jones but he worked around some traffic in the second and third innings to keep that score intact. 

Cedar Rapids tied it up at one in the top of the fourth when Jacob McCombs led off the inning with his first home run of the year.

Things went off the rails for Jones in the bottom of the fourth, however. Three straight singles to start the inning loaded the bases, and after a fly out, they were cleared with a grand slam to put the Chiefs comfortable in front. After a pitching change a walk and double led to the fifth run of the inning, and the Kernels were down 6-1.

Jones finished 3 2/3 innings and was charged with those six earned runs on eight hits and one walk. He struck out five. Christian Becerra got the final out of the fourth, allowing one hit and one walk. Michael Ross came on to begin the bottom of the fifth and went the next three innings. He allowed one earned run on three hits and a walk, while striking out two. Jacob Wosinski struck out the side in the eighth to finish the game for Cedar Rapids.

The Kernels scored their second run in the top of the seventh when Andy Lugo drew a one-out walk. Jaime Ferrer followed with a single into center field that advanced Lugo toward third. Ferrer then got caught in a game of pickle between first and second base, allowing Lugo to scamper home.

Marek Houston (2-for-4) and Ferrer (2-for-3, 2B, RBI) had multiple hits. As a team the Kernels went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Dunedin 3, Fort Myers 2
Box Score
Taking the mound for the Mighty Mussels was right-hander Jonathan Stevens, the Twins 16th round pick of the 2025 draft out of Alabama. This was his first start of the season, as he had come out of the bullpen in his prior three appearances.

In his three innings he was charged with two runs, but both were unearned thanks to a pair of errors from his defense in the top of the third. He allowed two hits, walked three, and struck out three. You could say he was a bit “effectively wild,” as 26 of his 52 pitches went for strikes (50%).

Fort Myers made the score 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth when Yasser Mercedes singled, stole second base, and scored on a two-out double from JP Smith. Mercedes also scored their second run of the game in the sixth after he, Eduardo Beltre, and Quentin Young strung together singles.

Mitch Mueller was the first reliever summoned from the bullpen to start the fourth and he retired the next seven hitters. A one-out error and a walk in the sixth put an end to his appearance, but he finished 2 1/3 scoreless innings, walking one and striking out three. Brian Zeldin finished off the sixth and pitched into the eighth, but a one-out double would come around to score and give the Blue Jays a one-run lead. He was charged with one earned run on three hits in his two innings. He struck out one. Michael Hilker finished off the final 1 2/3 innings, and allowed one hit and walked three, but was not charged with a run while striking out two.

While it’s not a big hit or amazingly athletic defensive play, you still won’t see something like this happen very often:

In the bottom of the ninth Jayson Bass reached as the tying runner with a two-out single, but pinch runner Yilber Herrera was picked off attempting to steal second base to end the game.

Mercedes (2-for-4, 2 R, K, SB) and Smith (2-for-4, 2B, RBI, K) each had two hits to lead the offense. Smith’s double was their only extra-base hit among their seven, which was more than the six from the Blue Jays, but half of theirs went for doubles.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Jacob Wosinski, Cedar Rapids Kernels (1 IP, 3 K)
Hitter of the Day – Garrett Spain, Wichita Wind Surge (2-for-3, 2 R, 2B, HR, RBI, 2 BB, K)

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they performed on Tuesday.

#1 – Walker Jenkins (St. Paul): 2-for-5, R, HR (1), RBI, K
#3 – Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul): 0-for-2, 2 BB, 2 K
#4 – Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-4, K
#7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul): 1-for-3, R, HR (4), 2 RBI, BB
#9 – Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-4
#13 – Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-4
#14 – Quentin Young (Fort Myers): 1-for-4, RBI, K
#16 – Hendry Mendez (Wichita): 1-for-5, R, RBI, 2 K
#17 – Kyle DeBarge (Wichita): 2-for-5, RBI, 2 K
#19 – Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-3, K

WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Indianapolis (5:05 PM CDT) - RHP Andrew Bash (0-1, 4.41 ERA)
Wichita @ NW Arkansas (7:05 PM CDT) - RHP Ty Langenberg (0-1, 2.16 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (11:05 AM CDT) - LHP Dasan Hill (0-2, 12.38 ERA)
Dunedin @ Fort Myers (6:05 PM CDT) - RHP Riley Quick (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Tuesday’s games!

 

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[D.C Twins]

Fingers crossed for the start of a Jenkins Heater (trademark pending)

Sidenote.... pictures of Jenkins always make me chuckle.... if he doesn't make it as a professional baseball player, he can certainly play one on film... straight out of central casting he is.... 

[mrguy]

Good on Paredes getting a chance with the Saints, always been one of those fringe minor league guys I want to see succeed with the results he's had so far in his career. Unfortunate result though. I did think it was odd they even let him out for a 4th. I get as a starter in the twins current development system, you want your starter types to go 4 innings at least, but I would've assumed it was clear through the 3rd that he might need to ease more into getting used to AAA batters at this moment

[FlyingFinn]

Nice to see Yasser Mercedes off to a nice start this year.

[jmlease1]

Like seeing some homers from the boys in Saint Paul. Definitely hoping that Walker Jenkins is heating up. I'm not really worried about him, but it would be great to see the result match the peripherals. 

Maybe a couple of hits gets DeBarge going. He's been scrabbling lately with not much contact. Same for Quentin Young, who hasn't been hitting much to start his pro career.

 

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

Jenkins mashes and Sabato mashed! I love it. Keep on mashing, guys!

[Steve Lein]

7 hours ago, D.C Twins said:

Fingers crossed for the start of a Jenkins Heater (trademark pending)

Sidenote.... pictures of Jenkins always make me chuckle.... if he doesn't make it as a professional baseball player, he can certainly play one on film... straight out of central casting he is.... 

Haha, I mused in an article earlier in the season about how if you were building a #3 hitter (or baseball player) in a lab, Jenkins could be the blueprint. 😉 

[bean5302]

Jenkins is hitting balls pretty hard, but he's driving them into the ground. He's over a 50% grounder rate with low line drive rates which is why his production stats are rough. Like others, I'm hoping he starts getting a little more under the ball to generate some line drives and quality fly balls instead of the infield choppers.

[jkcarew]

Jenkins turned on a first-pitch off-speed offering on the inside corner. Good to see.

Prayers out to Brandon Winokur. The owner of two consecutive golden sombreros. Riding a streak of 8 consecutive K’s. Take a day off and hit the reset button, kid.

[jkcarew]

3 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

Nice to see Yasser Mercedes off to a nice start this year.

He is. I get why they started him repeating at Fort Myers this spring, but it would be more ideal if he were in Cedar Rapids right now based on age (21) and pedigree. And these results may convince the org that he’s ready.

[DataNerd]

3 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Jenkins is hitting balls pretty hard, but he's driving them into the ground. He's over a 50% grounder rate with low line drive rates which is why his production stats are rough. Like others, I'm hoping he starts getting a little more under the ball to generate some line drives and quality fly balls instead of the infield choppers.

Yeah.  It's weird to have a guy who is not chasing bad pitches, making a ton of contact when he swings, having high exit velocities but yet still having a bad batted ball profile, but that is where he has been this year.  It's a bit impressive to have a 90th% EV at the 99th percentile for AAA hitters and only have a 0.068 ISO