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

[HarmonK03]

13 minutes ago, LA Vikes Fan said:

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.   

You are correct that it isn't easy but I do believe they can give him playing time 5 days and even as a defensive replacement for Keaschall on the days he doesn't start.  It may mean playing Keaschall at 2B two or three days a week, but are the defense shortcomings that much different in the infield vs the outfield right now.  And quite honestly from an offensive standpoint, Clemens should not be in the lineup every day right now.  And Bell is streaky, if he isn't on one of his hot streaks, are we losing as much sitting him periodically.  When I look at his season numbers they are basically equal to Lee's, who everyone seems to think is underperforming so I am not as opposed to sitting him once or twice a week.

I don't believe in punting on the 13th man on the bench, I want them to have some sort of role and not sit for two weeks.  In that regard Roden would at least be an option to pinch hit later in the games better than we had with Jackson.  But I really do want to see Jenkins, I know it won't be easy but I think it's worth it to see if he can provide any kind of spark to the team.

[LA Vikes Fan]

1 hour ago, HarmonK03 said:

You are correct that it isn't easy but I do believe they can give him playing time 5 days and even as a defensive replacement for Keaschall on the days he doesn't start.  It may mean playing Keaschall at 2B two or three days a week, but are the defense shortcomings that much different in the infield vs the outfield right now.  And quite honestly from an offensive standpoint, Clemens should not be in the lineup every day right now.  And Bell is streaky, if he isn't on one of his hot streaks, are we losing as much sitting him periodically.  When I look at his season numbers they are basically equal to Lee's, who everyone seems to think is underperforming so I am not as opposed to sitting him once or twice a week.

I don't believe in punting on the 13th man on the bench, I want them to have some sort of role and not sit for two weeks.  In that regard Roden would at least be an option to pinch hit later in the games better than we had with Jackson.  But I really do want to see Jenkins, I know it won't be easy but I think it's worth it to see if he can provide any kind of spark to the team.

This could work. I think you've really identified the core question - can Jenkins provide a spark to the offense playing at the expense of Clemens and is it worth putting Keaschall at 2B 2-3 days a week to find out? I agree that Clemens has been the weak spot in the batting order for the last 5-6 weeks, albeit with an occasional key hit. I'm becoming more and more convinced that it's worth a shot. Get Keaschall reps at 2B today (an off day) so he remembers the basics, call up Jenkins tomorrow 8/15 and send down Roden (preserves Jenkins rookie status), and be ready to juggle a little so that Jenkins gets 4-5 days a week the next 2 weeks. Then play the hot hands. Emma can come up 9/1. Might be worth a try. Question is does this have better odds than playing things out with who we got? Tough call but that's why Zoll, Shelton, and the others get paid the big bucks. as for me, I'm willing to give this a try. 

[DJL44]

56 minutes ago, LA Vikes Fan said:

This could work. I think you've really identified the core question - can Jenkins provide a spark to the offense playing at the expense of Clemens and is it worth putting Keaschall at 2B 2-3 days a week to find out? I agree that Clemens has been the weak spot in the batting order for the last 5-6 weeks, albeit with an occasional key hit. I'm becoming more and more convinced that it's worth a shot. Get Keaschall reps at 2B today (an off day) so he remembers the basics, call up Jenkins tomorrow 8/15 and send down Roden (preserves Jenkins rookie status), and be ready to juggle a little so that Jenkins gets 4-5 days a week the next 2 weeks. Then play the hot hands. Emma can come up 9/1. Might be worth a try. Question is does this have better odds than playing things out with who we got? Tough call but that's why Zoll, Shelton, and the others get paid the big bucks. as for me, I'm willing to give this a try. 

Can Jenkins provide a spark on offense? Unlikely. The players who he would replace have OPS+ ranging from 106 (Bell) to 138 (Buxton). That’s a high bar for a rookie to exceed. Carson Benge, for example, wouldn’t really improve the Twins offense.
 

Can he improve the outfield defense? Absolutely. He will be better than Larnach or Keaschall immediately.

[Jacksson]

No reason to start Jenkins' clock started this early especially when Rodriguez will be out of options next year.  BTW: How long do we put up with all the K's from Culpepper before we send him packing back down to AAA?

[tony&rodney]

4 minutes ago, Jacksson said:

No reason to start Jenkins' clock

After today (August 14), there is no clock. That reason has evaporated as of midnight tonight.

[DJL44]

16 minutes ago, Jacksson said:

No reason to start Jenkins' clock started this early especially when Rodriguez will be out of options next year.  BTW: How long do we put up with all the K's from Culpepper before we send him packing back down to AAA?

And there it is.

Rookies - you had better perform like an All-Star in your first five games or the fans will be calling for your demotion.

If they were going to give up on Culpepper after 5 games then they made a HUGE mistake adding him to the roster. That’s a fireable offense for a general manager.

[Linus]

On 8/12/2026 at 5:07 PM, 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. 

TK devised his own manual system based on gaining a base or losing a base. I will certainly get the details wrong but for every 90 feet gained you earned a point. If you singled and the man on first went to third, you got 3 points  - one for you and 2 for the guy you advanced. Likewise grounding into a force play cost you a point. He applied the same logic to fielding. For example if you threw to the wrong base and a runner advanced one base you lost a point or if you made an elite play and saved a base you would get a point for the fielding play. Anyway you get the idea, it wouldn’t take long and you could see rankings for from the cumulative score.