One Weekend of Measurables on Twins Rookie Phenom Walker Jenkins

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of Nick Wosika-Imagn Images

The first thing you notice about Walker Jenkins is his size. In a profession where almost everyone is big and strong, he looks big and strong even by comparison. When the Twins called him up late last week, they placed Jenkins's locker between those of Kody Clemens and Trevor Larnach in the home clubhouse, and Jenkins practically dwarfed both—no small feat, where the 6-foot-3 Larnach is concerned. It's not that Jenkins is exceptionally big, in absolute terms. He just takes up space, in that special way some athletes do. He's only as tall as Larnach, but he stands taller. He's long-limbed, broad-chested and broad-shouldered. While he moves plenty well to play center field throughout his early 20s, it's easy to see why most scouts expect him to move to right field later in his career. He's so big that he'll have to slow down a bit, in time.

Bigness defines him in the batter's box, too. From the press box, watching Jenkins set up in the batter's box was eye-opening, because he's much more spread-out than might be apparent from the center-field camera. As some huge players do, he seems to take up the whole box; he's almost too big to be held. In fact, only a small handful of players who have played in the majors this year start with more space between their feet than Jenkins does, in his stance. Most notable among that group: the Mets' Juan Soto. Here's how Soto sets up in the box, using Statcast's visualization of stance data.

Here's the same visual for Jenkins, who is almost exactly as open in his setup and has almost an identical distance between his feet as Soto.

Jenkins's swing doesn't look anything like Soto's, though. Whereas Soto spreads out that way to get into a deep crouch and swing flat and fast, Jenkins's stroke seems geared toward loft. His average tilt on 17 competitive swings over the three games was 35°, which is steeper than average. His attack angle (the vertical angle between the ground and the movement of the barrel at the time of contact) is steeper than average, too, and his attack direction (the horizontal angle of his barrel at contact) is more to the pull side of the diamond than average. Perhaps because Jenkins landed with the Twins via the MLB Draft Lottery, he's been comped to Joe Mauer on his way up the chain to the majors. However, this stroke—which might not be the one he settles into; it was just one adrenaline-soaked weekend—looks more like a tall and lithe left-handed batter who's still active: the Yankees' Cody Bellinger.

Here's a sample swing from Jenkins:

And here's one from Bellinger, who's much more upright and has his feet much closer together in his stance but then moves so similarly to Jenkins:

Bellinger's swing tilt and attack angle are almost identical to Jenkins's, though he doesn't average as much pull orientation as Jenkins did over his first week. It looks like Jenkins has above-average (but not elite) bat speed, and will set up in a spread-out stance to give himself stability as he attacks the ball, looking to both be patient and lift the ball with power to the pull field.

It's too early to get overconfident about what kind of hitter Jenkins is, or what kind he might become. In just a few days, though, we can glean real insight into those questions, thanks to the detail and depth of new tracking data. The Twins will hope to get more actual production over the next four weeks than they got over these three games, but Jenkins deserved slightly better results than he got in his first series as a major leaguer. He's also showing some valuable and fascinating similarities to a few of the game's best hitters. Already, there's plenty to be optimistic about.

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[PuckettPond]

He is the product of a high draft pick. He is our CFer now & in the future. Tonight his 1st HR.

[Wedman13]

21 minutes ago, PuckettPond said:

He is the product of a high draft pick. He is our CFer now & in the future. Tonight his 1st HR.

After the hippie comment yesterday I expected more PP.  I cannot say this article sucks as I'm not a judge but I couldn't make it through the first 5 sentences.  The guy (ant was in his 3rd yr at this age) can play or he cannot.  His looks, stature, muscle development don't matter.   Have you ever seen Gagne, Bruno or gaetti up close?  Was Hrbek a picture of great health?  Just a very strange article., and I hate criticizing this site as I love it.
 

Long hair, short hair or not.  But I do support local barbers

[RpR]

35 minutes ago, Wedman13 said:

After the hippie comment yesterday I expected more PP.  I cannot say this article sucks as I'm not a judge but I couldn't make it through the first 5 sentences.  The guy (ant was in his 3rd yr at this age) can play or he cannot.  His looks, stature, muscle development don't matter.   Have you ever seen Gagne, Bruno or gaetti up close?  Was Hrbek a picture of great health?  Just a very strange article., and I hate criticizing this site as I love it.
 

Long hair, short hair or not.  But I do support local barbers

Oh no not again
It hurts so good
I don't understand
Infatuation
Infatuation
Infatuation
Infatuation
'Fatuate me Walker...

[Parker Hageman]

Quote

Perhaps because Jenkins landed with the Twins via the MLB Draft Lottery, he's been comped to Joe Mauer on his way up the chain to the majors.

I mean...

walker jenkins x joe mauer pic.twitter.com/FQzJqamo5l

— parker hageman (@HagemanParker) August 29, 2024

To be clear, I don't think Mauer's swing is a perfect comp for Jenkins. They both have very quiet actions and both have a very strong ability to cover the zone, particularly the way they can both drive pitches on the outer third. But Jenkins' ability to pull the ball in the air is far more advanced than Mauer was. In his MILB seasons, he was 40%+ pull rate (as high as 48% last year) while Mauer was rarely above 30% in a given MLB season