Twins General Manager Jeremy Zoll Explains Why Walker Jenkins Hasn’t Been Called Up

[Mike Sixel]

1 minute ago, DJL44 said:

They had an injury to a bench player and called up a bench player.

Martin was a bench player?

[IndyTwinsFan]

It appears to me that the team is almost intentionally trying to create or perpetuate roadblocks to prevent them from calling up Jenkins.

If there's even a hint of truth in that, I consider it a pretty damning indictment on the organization as a whole.

[Whammy]

47 minutes ago, 90stwinskid said:

I appreciate this take on the Jenkins situation. I would have loved to see the Twins call him up weeks ago, but at the same time, there are a lot of factors that we as fans might not always be privy to, as this article demonstrates. I just hope he gets his chance sooner than later.

Curious how Gleeman would react to this given his spicy take on the podcast yesterday.

I agree with Gleeman's thesis of "I want Walker Jenkins with the MN Twins right now" but I believe Gleeman's "just put him in the effing lineup" stance doesn't account for a key aspect that is mentioned in this article, which is that the AB come from somewhere and there are consequences to that.

You can't just give him Roden's AB and feel satisfied. If that's all you had to do, this would be easy. Jenkins needs more AB for it to be worth calling him up. So where do those come from? First what are the measurable consequences of taking those AB away from players who, at this moment, are performing pretty well?

Bell - 22 game on-base streak. OPS over 1.000 in August
Keaschall - 165 OPS+ since July 1
Larnach - Struggling in August, but has been a key part of the offense this year.

Second, what are the non-measurable (clubhouse level) ramifications of making those changes? I can't have any real way of knowing that, but it's something that Zoll and Shelton need to consider. 

[Whammy]

In general I agree that Jenkins is doing really well at AAA, but I feel like we need to level set on what's average at AAA.

As of this morning Jenkins had a 123 OPS+ at AAA this season. We should all be really pleased with that from a 21yo who likely has strong defense, but that's not "dominating"

[Mike Sixel]

Why aren't the twins as good as Milwaukee, people ask..... Well, they play rookies a lot. Cleveland has something like a dozen young players? The Twins? Old. 

[HarmonK03]

24 minutes ago, Permanent Twins Fan said:

So maybe not Jenkins, but why Jackson?????

Jackson is a good clubhouse guy and integral to their success.  And you can pinch hit Jeffers now, going without a second catcher for two innings is just too big a gamble.

[HarmonK03]

22 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

It is not easy to make these decisions. Is Larnach struggling, or is it just a small sample size blip? Is Jenkins ready or did he just see a string of lousy AAA pitching? It takes about a month’s worth of plate appearances to really know. By the time they have enough data it will be September.
 

A lot of this comes down to the manager. If Shelton won’t play Jenkins over Larnach, then they should keep him in AAA.

If they wait long enough an injury will make the decision for them and they won’t have to stick their neck out.

Shelton is willing to move players around just to get Caratini time at 1B, but he wouldn't do it for Jenkins.  That is totally baffling to me.  Philadelphia moved a gold glove second baseman to 3B to get Arraez 's bat into the lineup.

[jimbo92107]

Sounds more like they're protecting the Twins from winning more games than protecting their best prospect. Look, Walker Jenkins is BETTER. At what? EVERYTHING. Put him in for Roden, and what happens? Good stuff. Better hitting, better glove, better arm, better bat, better speed. The only outfielder you don't bench for Jenkins is Buxton, and that's because you need three outfielders. 

Pretty simple: Thank you for your service, Alan Roden. We found a better player. Have a seat.

[DJL44]

3 minutes ago, jimbo92107 said:

Sounds more like they're protecting the Twins from winning more games than protecting their best prospect. Look, Walker Jenkins is BETTER. At what? EVERYTHING. Put him in for Roden, and what happens? Good stuff. Better hitting, better glove, better arm, better bat, better speed. The only outfielder you don't bench for Jenkins is Buxton, and that's because you need three outfielders. 

Pretty simple: Thank you for your service, Alan Roden. We found a better player. Have a seat.

Alan Roden is getting 10 plate appearances a week. He has already taken a seat. 

[HerbieFan]

All acceptable reasons to not call him up.  I think it comes down to this:

He's only 21

He's not on the 40-man so he could play in the minors next season when there's a lockout

Waiting to next year (if/when there is mlb baseball) delays the start of his service time

[Wedman13]

I really appreciate the article.  You do a great job.  But maybe just give the quotes.... then your perspective.  Your thoughts are great but I did struggle to see Zoll's actual quotes.  That's kinda what really matters and I thought the point of the headline