Walker Jenkins vs Emmanuel Rodriguez: Which Twins Prospect Gets the Call First?

[stringer bell]

This seems to tge topic on every thread. Upon Buxton’s return, the starting OF is Keaschall, Buxton, Larnach/Martin. DH is Bell snd 1B is Lewis. As long as that is the pecking order it does no good to waste service time on premium prospects. 
 

Rodriguez and Jenkins have both missed lots of time with injuries this year and in their careers. A September 1 callup for Rodriguez makes good sense given his lack of minor league options going into ‘27. It is not insignificant that Jenkins doesn’t need to be on the 40-man during the off-season and until recall either this year or next. There are always guys pushed off tge 40-man that the club wants to keep and adding Jenkinswould impact those spots. Brent Headrick is an example. I think rookie status is a very small consideration. Options and 40-man status are far more important. 

[old nurse]

11 hours ago, bean5302 said:

 

Activated 3/9/26
60-Day IL 5/6/26 (retroactive)
Activated 7/28/26

If we go by the activated dates, he hits 90 days on August 29th.
5/6 - 3/9 = 58 days
8/29 - 7/28 = 32 days (90 total)

This is the 40 man roster. It's not connected to MiLB games, but even if it was the first first Twins game 3/26 (subtract 17 days), Emma would hit the 90 days of active roster time on 9/13.

Emma has to go back on the 60-day IL before 8/29 and stay there the rest of the year if he's going to get a 4th option year.

The AAA season started at the end of March. Activated when he was he would have 89 days 

[JD-TWINS]

14 hours ago, GNess said:

The argument that ERod gets the call up before WJ is sound, but hey both have the tools to be successful MLB players. I can imagine a Twins outfield group in as soon as 2027 of Buxton, Jenkins, Rodriguez, Keaschall and a 5th TBD.

Concerns remain about  Rodriguez's K rate and injury woes and Jenkins' tepid (but improving) power production so far. 

Virtually all prospects have hurdles to overcome to make it as a major leaguer.

 

I have no issues with a probable 5 tool guy not hitting a bunch of HR’s at age 21 ……. nor ever (becoming a 4 tool guy).

Emma, in his 6 seasons in the organization, has played in: 37 - 47 - 99 - 47 - 65 - 36 games. He consistently strikes out over 1/3 of his PA’s. I understand the things he does well …….they just don’t seem to outweigh the negatives, IMO, for the long-term.

I’d see if Roden keeps hitting over his next 3 starts …… if he doesn’t remain at a fairly high level, I’d displace him with Jenkins. When the Rosters expand, I bring up Emma……..Rojas, if not up prior, is the other obvious call-up with Roster expansion.

[old nurse]

28 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

It's definitely WAR adjacent.   wRC+ is of course weighted runs created as compared to league average.  DRS is defensive Runs Saved.  Combine them and you have something close to what @Tony&Rodney was describing.  This requires more scrutiny than I am inclined to invest.    

They are all approximations of contribution 

[tony&rodney]

6 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

I have no issues with a probable 5 tool guy not hitting a bunch of HR’s at age 21 ……. nor ever (becoming a 4 tool guy).

Emma, in his 6 seasons in the organization, has played in: 37 - 47 - 99 - 47 - 65 - 36 games. He consistently strikes out over 1/3 of his PA’s. I understand the things he does well …….they just don’t seem to outweigh the negatives, IMO, for the long-term.

I’d see if Roden keeps hitting over his next 3 starts …… if he doesn’t remain at a fairly high level, I’d displace him with Jenkins. When the Rosters expand, I bring up Emma……..Rojas, if not up prior, is the other obvious call-up with Roster expansion.

No doubt that Emmanuel Rodriguez creates angst to some extent. His K-rate and inability to stay on the field are barriers. EmRod would need to go on a real heater to get more love and the thing is, it could happen. 

Dan Hayes has suggested or opined that Jenkins is not in the loop for being called up. I have no knowledge on that. What Jenkins brings to the table is much better defense and at least similar production to those currently populating the Twins outfield. Jenkins has hit a number of line drive outs and hasn't really benefitted from many weak base hits. Roden had a great day yesterday but has often looked overmatched. He hustles and plays hard but it just doesn't look like he has the talent to be a regular. That sounds harsh and I actually hope he goes on a real tear at the plate. I don't think he can cover the ground to make plays nearly as well as Jenkins. As usual I would choose the defense - Jenkins plays 5-6 times per week.

Kendry Rojas has looked good in his last two outings for St. Paul. Rojas is on a steep learning curve but I do expect he is the pitcher recalled in September, if he isn't back up sooner to replace Matthews. 

No matter what, we tune in and hope for the best.

[killercarewoliva]

17 hours ago, LA Vikes Fan said:

Isn't it likely that Emma gets a 4th option year? I understand the rule to be that a player who has not had five "full professional seasons" (at least 90 days on active major or minor league roster) before using up the third option will get a 4th option year. I've read several places that Emma is likely to get that extra year. I ask because a lot of the call to bring him up seems to be driven by the idea that he is out of options so we need to see him this year. I question whether that's accurate although Gleeman says that he was told by a source in the league office that Emma doesn't qualify for a 4th option year, so what do I know.

Doesn't change my thought process anyway. Jenkins is clearly the better choice IMHO. He has been crushing the ball since returning from the IL and showing the one thing previously missing, power. He is also the better defensive player and can play CF, something we need for the 1 to 2 days a week Buxton is not going to play there. Conversely, Emma just came back after 100 days on IL, and has a 37% (!) Strike out rate this year after two years above 30%. He is going to wind up with a 35 to 40% strikeout rate in the majors when he first comes up. That's unplayable. You can't have a hole like that in your lineup the matter how much he walks. 

The ironic thing about this debate is I don't think either one of them is coming up unless there's an injury. Buxton will replace Roden, as he should, and I think the Twins are going to try to keep Alex Jackson on the roster so they have him for next year. If we put him on waivers and someone claims him, which seems pretty likely, they get him next year too because he has one arbitration year remaining. I hear the argument that there are other guys out there like him we can get for next year, and that may be right, but I think they go with the devil they know. Also, it's hard to find another place to put a call up with the way Martin hits left-handed pitching (.800+ OPS this year, 898 OPS last year), and as well as Larnach has been playing before the recent slump. We have to keep Kreidler so we have a second shortstop. We can't put Lee back there if Culpepper doesn't make it. There just may be no room at the end unless there's an injury. But let's face it, there always is an injury, so it's still a fun debate. Watch, someone will get hurt and the team will bring up Wallner. 

 

 

I like that this one reads. you put Rodriguez up there. everybody's all excited. he is a real exciting player but when he strikes out 40% of the time, good gracious. Jenkins is the number one guy. he needs to be the guy that's up because you can't bring up both of them where you going to put them? Boston will be back by the weekend. then you send send roden down to get to Jenkins and if you want to send Martin down to get to Rodriguez there's not four spots because you have Larnack having his best season and they're all left-handers. I don't know if chickens or Rodriguez have some kind of hitting record batting against left-handed pitching. probably not to platoon with Larnack. everybody's all all hyped up about Culpeper I was too. I still am but he's not playing all that good defense. I thought he played better defense and he's not hitting very well either but it's still just a couple of games. he's starting to look fantastic on that home run though. to win the division or playoff spot the pitching has got to get better. it would be if certain people weren't injured so the offense has to really step up. so give these guys a try for a couple of weeks. see if they can do a little better in the outfield.

[Trov]

The main question for the Twins are what are they looking for?  Jenkins will bring stronger defense and can play CF, if Buck is out rest of year or still for several weeks, there may be benefit to having him come up.  Do they want to give E-Rod a taste playing a corner OF spot, he can play CF some too, but Jenkins is the CF of the future. With E-Rod on 40 man and out of options next year, it makes some sense to call him up first.  Also, with lockout looming next year, makes some sense to keep Jenkins off the 40 man if you want.  

Does Jenkins give them the better shot to make playoffs, and do you not care about the 40 man situation?  If so, then Jenkins will get nod, but if not, then E-Rod will. 

[LA Vikes Fan]

The 40 man situation is a real consideration but it's not a real barrier. We have 2 easy moves. First, Fedko is out for the year but he has not year been put on the IL. Put him on the 60 day Il and you have a spot. The second is to DFA Tristan Gray. If he passes through waivers he stays; if not, he goes. He's probably not part of next year's team any way so no big whoop one way or the other. 

I think they have purposely not put Fedko on the 60 day IL so they have the flexibility to create a 40 man spot to add a guy from AAA or a pitcher they get on waivers. Fedko is gone until at least May 2027 - torn ACL, MCL, and LCL, the terrible triad - so he can be moved at any time. No barrier from the 40 man to bringing up Jenkins any time they want to do so.  

[stringer bell]

12 hours ago, DocBauer said:

But does he even have to? It's time for Jackson to go down. Hopefully, post deadline, most teams are set and he goes unclaimed and we can keep him.  But I am far more concerned with Rodriguez and Jenkins getting some time in '26 to get ready for '27 than I am potentially losing a decent, solid, but journeyman to be our #2 catcher next season. 

So bring Jenkins up. And we're only about 2 weeks from being able to add another player for September. By that time, Emma will have a couple weeks to get in a groove and bring him up then.

So to me, it's probably a moot point as to who SHOULD be first. Jenkins is ready, and Rodriguez comes up September 1st.

Issue solved, IMO.

Jackson doesn’t “go down”, he is DFA’d and lost to the club so we can have a fifth OF for two weeks. They’ve gone with three catchers for over a month. I think they wait it out until the rosters are expanded. 

[Jeff K]

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

No doubt that Emmanuel Rodriguez creates angst to some extent. His K-rate and inability to stay on the field are barriers. EmRod would need to go on a real heater to get more love and the thing is, it could happen. 

Dan Hayes has suggested or opined that Jenkins is not in the loop for being called up. I have no knowledge on that. What Jenkins brings to the table is much better defense and at least similar production to those currently populating the Twins outfield. Jenkins has hit a number of line drive outs and hasn't really benefitted from many weak base hits. Roden had a great day yesterday but has often looked overmatched. He hustles and plays hard but it just doesn't look like he has the talent to be a regular. That sounds harsh and I actually hope he goes on a real tear at the plate. I don't think he can cover the ground to make plays nearly as well as Jenkins. As usual I would choose the defense - Jenkins plays 5-6 times per week.

Kendry Rojas has looked good in his last two outings for St. Paul. Rojas is on a steep learning curve but I do expect he is the pitcher recalled in September, if he isn't back up sooner to replace Matthews. 

No matter what, we tune in and hope for the best.

I am also ready for Jenkins to be called up.  His hitting post return from injury has been excellent.  And Emma's strike out rate is very concerning.  The Twins can sort out his eligibiity in Spring Training.  If he doesn't make the team, then so be it.

[stringer bell]

15 minutes ago, LA Vikes Fan said:

The 40 man situation is a real consideration but it's not a real barrier. We have 2 easy moves. First, Fedko is out for the year but he has not year been put on the IL. Put him on the 60 day Il and you have a spot. The second is to DFA Tristan Gray. If he passes through waivers he stays; if not, he goes. He's probably not part of next year's team any way so no big whoop one way or the other. 

I think they have purposely not put Fedko on the 60 day IL so they have the flexibility to create a 40 man spot to add a guy from AAA or a pitcher they get on waivers. Fedko is gone until at least May 2027 - torn ACL, MCL, and LCL, the terrible triad - so he can be moved at any time. No barrier from the 40 man to bringing up Jenkins any time they want to do so.  

The 40-man problem is twofold and not really concerning for the rest of the season. First, as noted, if Jenkins is promoted, he is rostered in the off-season and there is one less 40-man spot to offer to free agents or rookies they want to protect. I mentioned Brett Headrick, who got squeezed out two seasons ago, but probably one of Hoffman or Danny Coulombe gets a major league deal in 2023,instead of an opt-out minor league deal if there’s another spot available. The other part is that Jenkins would be locked out with the other major leaguers if there is a work stoppage.

I think with Fedko, it’s a pay and service time thing. He has to be on the major league roster accumulating service time to be placed on the major league 60-day IL. Not totally sure about this, but something similar happened with Matt Canterino, whose 40-man spot wasn’t used because he was on a minor league IL. 

[Road trip]

14 minutes ago, Jeff K said:

I am also ready for Jenkins to be called up.  His hitting post return from injury has been excellent.  And Emma's strike out rate is very concerning.  The Twins can sort out his eligibiity in Spring Training.  If he doesn't make the team, then so be it.

Look, I know EmRod is hurt too much, and strikes out too much, but I wonder if this is causing many to overlook his many strengths.  Elite power, speed, good defense, and a good eye that leads to many walks.

He's still a Top100 prospect in MLB.  He's ranked #31 by Keith Law, #52 in MLB pipeline, and in the 50s by Baseball Prospectus.  Yes, Jenkins is rated higher and probably has a higher floor, but it would be unprecedented to let a Top100 prospect like EmRod go for nothing without giving him a trial run, be it this year or next April.  

[LA Vikes Fan]

10 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

Other than the fact Austin Martin hits right handed, make a compelling argument for not calling BOTH up and sending Martin & Rhoden packing........

 

First, you have the burdens reversed. You need to make a compelling argument to bring an untested player up, it's not on the FO to make a compelling to keep a productive player around. Untested players are always a crapshoot. Most fail overall, is a very high percentage struggle in their initial call up. Still the compelling argument is there, at least for Martin,

Martin vs. LH Pitching:

2026 MLB stats - .258/.409(!)/.400 (.809), in 120 ABS/146 PAs, overall 13.4% BB rate (Elite), 18.1% SO rate( Solid), 12-19 in SBs. 

2025 MLB stats - .346/.404(!)/.481 (.885) in 52ABs/57 PAs, overall 12.4% BB rate (Elite), 17.4% SO rate (Solid), 11-15 in SBs. 

Overall 2025/2026 vs. LH pitching -  49/178 for a .284 BA, slash line (approx.) .284/.406/.435 (.841), overall 13% BB rate, 17.8% SO rate, 23-34 in SBs (67.6%).

Overall (2025-2026) - 111/433 for .256 BA, slash line (approx.)  .256/.362/.348 (.710).

So, over 2 seasons with about 1 full season's worth of plate appearance (498 PAs), Martin has been a very good to elite hitter against LH pitching and overall a solid 4th OF against all pitching with good speed but limited power. I think he is in average to above average outfielder, but I recognize that others disagree. Overall, that's a guy who always starts against LH starters and is valuable RH pinch hitter against a LH reliever, key with the 3 batter minimum rule. Martin is a solid MLB player who belongs on a competitive roster. He's earned his spot so far and he's a great short side of a platoon. He's not yet a solid starter overall but he's heading in that direction with an established floor of a solid 4th OF.  

How about Emma and Jenkins? Great potential for sure. I believe in both, especially Jenkins. Still, the road is littered with guys how have great potential but never made it (see Jared Kalenic, Cristian Pache and a whole host of others). History tells us that it is more likely than not they will struggle when they first come up so for 2026, Martin is by far the better and safer bet.

As for Roden, I tend to agree with you. If the question was calling up one of those two and sending Roden down I would be right there with you. But that's not the question. Roden is on the MLB roster just until Buxton returns, at which point he's optioned to AAA unless there is an injury. He is not holding up either Emma or Jenkins.

 

[LA Vikes Fan]

21 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

The 40-man problem is twofold and not really concerning for the rest of the season. First, as noted, if Jenkins is promoted, he is rostered in the off-season and there is one less 40-man spot to offer to free agents or rookies they want to protect. I mentioned Brett Headrick, who got squeezed out two seasons ago, but probably one of Hoffman or Danny Coulombe gets a major league deal in 2023,instead of an opt-out minor league deal if there’s another spot available. The other part is that Jenkins would be locked out with the other major leaguers if there is a work stoppage.

I think with Fedko, it’s a pay and service time thing. He has to be on the major league roster accumulating service time to be placed on the major league 60-day IL. Not totally sure about this, but something similar happened with Matt Canterino, whose 40-man spot wasn’t used because he was on a minor league IL. 

Good points. The 40 man roster is not an issue this year but I see your point on the future. Your post reminds me that roster management is pretty complicated and not for the faint of heart. A good GM always has to be thinking at least one season ahead, if not two seasons, all while competing for talent against 29 other FOs all trying to do the same thing. It's easy to criticize roster management when there's too many LH OFs on the 40 man or too many "DH types" on the 26 man roster but it's a heck of a lot harder to find a solution. I think a lot of us here just focus on the next game or the next week or the next month and forget about some of these issues. I'm beginning to think that being the GM of a MLB team is actually not a job that a nutless monkey could do, it actually requires some real talent and effort. Who knew. Thanks for the reality check.

[Jeff K]

1 hour ago, Road trip said:

Look, I know EmRod is hurt too much, and strikes out too much, but I wonder if this is causing many to overlook his many strengths.  Elite power, speed, good defense, and a good eye that leads to many walks.

He's still a Top100 prospect in MLB.  He's ranked #31 by Keith Law, #52 in MLB pipeline, and in the 50s by Baseball Prospectus.  Yes, Jenkins is rated higher and probably has a higher floor, but it would be unprecedented to let a Top100 prospect like EmRod go for nothing without giving him a trial run, be it this year or next April.  

And I am hopeful he gets a chance with the Twins.  But I believe that Walker Jenkins is a better choice to go up and help the team.  He certainly should help defensively and hopefully offensively.  Mid to late August is a tough time to come up for Emma and his strikeout rate.  Unless there is an injury, or both Martin and Roden fail; I don't see Emma coming up until maybe the small roster expansion in September.

[Whammy]

15 hours ago, bean5302 said:

 

Activated 3/9/26
60-Day IL 5/6/26 (retroactive)
Activated 7/28/26

If we go by the activated dates, he hits 90 days on August 29th.
5/6 - 3/9 = 58 days
8/29 - 7/28 = 32 days (90 total)

This is the 40 man roster. It's not connected to MiLB games, but even if it was the first first Twins game 3/26 (subtract 17 days), Emma would hit the 90 days of active roster time on 9/13.

Emma has to go back on the 60-day IL before 8/29 and stay there the rest of the year if he's going to get a 4th option year.

There's much more to it than just 2026.

He needs 5 years (or more) of 90+ days on active rosters. So, yes, 2026 will likely count as one of those, but he has several other years that seemingly fall short of that.

[bean5302]

8 minutes ago, Whammy said:

There's much more to it than just 2026.

He needs 5 years (or more) of 90+ days on active rosters. So, yes, 2026 will likely count as one of those, but he has several other years that seemingly fall short of that.

He met the 90 days rule in all of his previous seasons.

[bean5302]

14 hours ago, twinstalker said:

Do I understand the question right, who will get called up first, a guy with no hope vs a guy who will likely be a star?  There is zero reason to call up EmRod.  Only the failure to trade him in the offseason, along with Jenkins still being held back for service time reasons is a reason why EmRod might be up at the beginning of next season with Jenkins still down.

Emma's expected outcomes are a bit better looking than Jenkins, it's not just the raw production. Walker Jenkins' expected outcomes in AAA are well below average.

Jenkins' bat has been a ground ball and pop up machine for most of the year, and despite the narrative that he's heated up recently, Jenkins is actually performing about the same overall since the All Star Break in terms of results, even with the outstanding past few games.

If Jenkins can put together another 5-10 games with these kind of results, you can't ignore it.

[DJL44]

21 hours ago, Major League Ready said:

This is really interesting.  I was thinking they could create a new stat that started with wRC+ and then subtracted runs gained or lost defensively.  I have not given it enough thought to have a strong opinion on if such a stat would have merit.  DRS has its deficiencies, but the combined stat would provide a way to make the comparison you suggest. 

If you do that and divide by 10 you get WAR

[Whammy]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

He met the 90 days rule in all of his previous seasons.

I'm curious how you're saying that with confidence based on this games played per season being:

2021 - 37 games
2022 - 47 games
2023 - 99 games
2024 - 47 games
2025 - 65 games

Obviously games played does not equal days on active rosters, but it's much easier to look up and it should be RELATIVELY close.

 

[Greglw3]

14 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

Other than the fact Austin Martin hits right handed, make a compelling argument for not calling BOTH up and sending Martin & Rhoden packing........

 

Roden 3 for 3 with 2 doubles plus a walk and not retired yesterday, I think his avg has surpassed Cody Clemens. Point is he’s possibly ascendent and may be quite viable by continuing his shot at consistent repetitions at the plate. Plus he has a good batting eye, a penchant for a high OBP. I think he’s earned a further look.

[LA Vikes Fan]

13 minutes ago, Greglw3 said:

Roden 3 for 3 with 2 doubles plus a walk and not retired yesterday, I think his avg has surpassed Cody Clemens. Point is he’s possibly ascendent and may be quite viable by continuing his shot at consistent repetitions at the plate. Plus he has a good batting eye, a penchant for a high OBP. I think he’s earned a further look.

I hear that but who goes now that Buxton is back? Jackson is probably the only other alternative unless there's an injury. 

[HarmonK03]

1 hour ago, LA Vikes Fan said:

I hear that but who goes now that Buxton is back? Jackson is probably the only other alternative unless there's an injury. 

If we were putting best possible roster together it would be Buxton and Jenkins for Jackson and Roden.  That would give us the best 13 position players on the roster. 

[HarmonK03]

1 hour ago, Greglw3 said:

Roden 3 for 3 with 2 doubles plus a walk and not retired yesterday, I think his avg has surpassed Cody Clemens. Point is he’s possibly ascendent and may be quite viable by continuing his shot at consistent repetitions at the plate. Plus he has a good batting eye, a penchant for a high OBP. I think he’s earned a further look.

Yes Roden had a good game yesterday, so do many AAAA types which he is close to becoming.  He has a good eye, but his swings have not been good at the plate and he has looked tentative in the field.  Nothing says he should get a shot over Jenkins or Keaschall for more playing time.

[dxpavelka]

12 hours ago, LA Vikes Fan said:

First, you have the burdens reversed. You need to make a compelling argument to bring an untested player up, it's not on the FO to make a compelling to keep a productive player around. Untested players are always a crapshoot. Most fail overall, is a very high percentage struggle in their initial call up. Still the compelling argument is there, at least for Martin,

Martin vs. LH Pitching:

2026 MLB stats - .258/.409(!)/.400 (.809), in 120 ABS/146 PAs, overall 13.4% BB rate (Elite), 18.1% SO rate( Solid), 12-19 in SBs. 

2025 MLB stats - .346/.404(!)/.481 (.885) in 52ABs/57 PAs, overall 12.4% BB rate (Elite), 17.4% SO rate (Solid), 11-15 in SBs. 

Overall 2025/2026 vs. LH pitching -  49/178 for a .284 BA, slash line (approx.) .284/.406/.435 (.841), overall 13% BB rate, 17.8% SO rate, 23-34 in SBs (67.6%).

Overall (2025-2026) - 111/433 for .256 BA, slash line (approx.)  .256/.362/.348 (.710).

So, over 2 seasons with about 1 full season's worth of plate appearance (498 PAs), Martin has been a very good to elite hitter against LH pitching and overall a solid 4th OF against all pitching with good speed but limited power. I think he is in average to above average outfielder, but I recognize that others disagree. Overall, that's a guy who always starts against LH starters and is valuable RH pinch hitter against a LH reliever, key with the 3 batter minimum rule. Martin is a solid MLB player who belongs on a competitive roster. He's earned his spot so far and he's a great short side of a platoon. He's not yet a solid starter overall but he's heading in that direction with an established floor of a solid 4th OF.  

How about Emma and Jenkins? Great potential for sure. I believe in both, especially Jenkins. Still, the road is littered with guys how have great potential but never made it (see Jared Kalenic, Cristian Pache and a whole host of others). History tells us that it is more likely than not they will struggle when they first come up so for 2026, Martin is by far the better and safer bet.

As for Roden, I tend to agree with you. If the question was calling up one of those two and sending Roden down I would be right there with you. But that's not the question. Roden is on the MLB roster just until Buxton returns, at which point he's optioned to AAA unless there is an injury. He is not holding up either Emma or Jenkins.

 

If you're trying to tell me that a dude with a sub 1 WAR and sub .700 career OPS is a productive player we have far different expectations. 

[dxpavelka]

8 hours ago, Greglw3 said:

Roden 3 for 3 with 2 doubles plus a walk and not retired yesterday, I think his avg has surpassed Cody Clemens. Point is he’s possibly ascendent and may be quite viable by continuing his shot at consistent repetitions at the plate. Plus he has a good batting eye, a penchant for a high OBP. I think he’s earned a further look.

He got the call ahead of Jenkins and Rodriguez because they weren't healthy at the time.  They are now and the time has come to get them up here.  We've seen what Roden looks like in a big league uniform.  We need to see what these two guys look like before the end of the season. Do we REALLY want to risk a work stoppage next year leading to them debuting in 2028?

[bean5302]

19 hours ago, Whammy said:

I'm curious how you're saying that with confidence based on this games played per season being:

2021 - 37 games
2022 - 47 games
2023 - 99 games
2024 - 47 games
2025 - 65 games

Obviously games played does not equal days on active rosters, but it's much easier to look up and it should be RELATIVELY close.

 

Because I've literally done the math on this before. It's not close. Emma has been on 7-day/10-day IL's a lot. He hasn't been on 60-day IL's a lot.

[LA Vikes Fan]

19 hours ago, HarmonK03 said:

If we were putting best possible roster together it would be Buxton and Jenkins for Jackson and Roden.  That would give us the best 13 position players on the roster. 

Interestingly, the first of that happened. Buxton in, Jackson out. I'm with you, Roden down, Jenkins up gives us the best 13 although Roden has shown some signs lately. Big question is do we want Jenkins up if he's not going to play much? We've been over this and we can probably get this spot 2 days a week, maybe 3 , but not more unless we want to go down the stretch (1) sitting  Buxton (our best player) more, (2) sitting Keaschall (our best hitter since July1) more, (3) take ABSs away from Larnach against RHs (.818 OPS) or Martin against RHs (.810 OPS), or (4) give Bell and Jeffers fewer ABs at DH. If this was May or June and we were still sorting out guys, I'd be in favor of some combination of those things to give Jenkins 3-4 games a week to see what we got. But it's not. We now need to max the playing time of the guys who played well in the sorting out period. Every win matters.  That's what makes me hesitant. I'm willing to sacrifice Roden as the 13th guy, but I want Jenkins to get consistent ABs the rest of the season and the Twins might not have that.

Keaschall's butchery at 2B really makes this hard. IF we look at what's happening, the guy who should give up ABs to Jenkins is Clemens. He's the guy not hitting, .186/,236/.364 (.600) over his last 118 ABs. That's a trend, not a slump. The problem is no one else can play 2B except Lewis, and none of these OFs plays 1B to my knowledge. We can replace Clemens with Kriedler but that doesn't help the offense. I wish Keaschall could play even a average 2B. If he could, it would be easier to call up Jenkins and play him every day in RF, same for Roden if they think he's the guy. I'm tempted to move Keaschall back to 2B (or 1B with Lewis the everyday 2B), call up Jenkins to be the everyday RF, and sit Clemens to be a UTL, but I just don't think we can take the defensive hit at 2B.   

[LA Vikes Fan]

On 8/13/2026 at 6:21 AM, stringer bell said:

This seems to tge topic on every thread. Upon Buxton’s return, the starting OF is Keaschall, Buxton, Larnach/Martin. DH is Bell snd 1B is Lewis. As long as that is the pecking order it does no good to waste service time on premium prospects. 
 

Rodriguez and Jenkins have both missed lots of time with injuries this year and in their careers. A September 1 callup for Rodriguez makes good sense given his lack of minor league options going into ‘27. It is not insignificant that Jenkins doesn’t need to be on the 40-man during the off-season and until recall either this year or next. There are always guys pushed off tge 40-man that the club wants to keep and adding Jenkinswould impact those spots. Brent Headrick is an example. I think rookie status is a very small consideration. Options and 40-man status are far more important. 

You are absolutely right. If we call up Jenkins for Roden, he gets maybe 10-15 ABs a week, if that.  A day in CF for Buxton, a day in RF for Keaschall. Maybe a day in LF but who do you sit - Larnach with a .818 OPS against RHs or Martin with a .809 OPS against LHs? All of this for a guy with great potential who is likely to struggle mightily when he first comes up, and whose promotion could cause 40 man issues? Maybe if I thought Jenkins would come up and be a huge force down the stretch, I just don't think that's vey likely. I'm out.

[LA Vikes Fan]

12 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

If you're trying to tell me that a dude with a sub 1 WAR and sub .700 career OPS is a productive player we have far different expectations. 

I'm not and that's not what I said. I said that Martin is a very productive player against LH pitching. And he is. He has an .809 OPS against lefties this year, .898 OPS last year. Could Jenkins or Emma be better? Over time, sure. In 2026? Highly unlikely. Most guys struggle when they first come up and neither Jenkins nor Emma is even really tearing up AAA. Not only that, both hit LH so they can't even really replace Martin in a platoon. Dropping Martin for Jenkins or Emma is much more likely to make the team worse this year than it is to make the team better. Those two will get their shot next year if they can stay healthy and Emma may get a look after Sept 1.