Walker Jenkins Scheduled for Elbow Surgery

[Cody Christie]

The Minnesota Twins have dealt with their share of injuries throughout the 2026 season, but the organization expects most of those players to be back at full strength when spring training begins.

General manager Jeremy Zoll provided an encouraging update Tuesday, saying nearly every injured player on the roster should be ready for the start of camp. That group includes veterans Byron Buxton and Pablo López, along with top prospect Walker Jenkins.

Jenkins is scheduled to undergo arthroscopic surgery Wednesday to address an ongoing issue with his right elbow. Zoll explained that the problem has been something Jenkins has dealt with for several years, making the offseason an ideal opportunity to finally address it.

"He's been dealing with a cranky right elbow on and off for three or four years at this point," Zoll said. "He's gonna get a procedure tomorrow to clean up bone chips and bone spur and he'll be full go for 2027. Gonna take advantage of the offseason to get that all squared away for Walker."

That timeline should allow Jenkins to enter the 2027 season without the lingering elbow issue that has followed him throughout his development.

Jenkins, the organization's top prospect, made his major-league debut in late August after tearing through the minor leagues. He quickly found himself in an important role, taking over in center field while Buxton dealt with his own injury.

The transition to the majors was not an easy one. Jenkins hit just .089 with one home run through his first 16 games, with that homer coming against a position player. Those early struggles were understandable for a young player adjusting to the highest level, but Jenkins showed why the Twins have been so excited about his long-term potential by turning things around before the season ended.

Over his final 10 games, Jenkins hit .400 while adding three home runs, five RBIs and nine runs scored. That strong finish gives the Twins something positive to build on heading into the offseason. Jenkins now has a taste of the major leagues and a chance to spend the winter preparing for his first full big-league season.

The elbow procedure adds another item to his offseason checklist, but Zoll's comments suggest the Twins are approaching it as a chance to eliminate a lingering problem rather than something expected to derail Jenkins' preparation.

If everything goes according to plan, Jenkins should arrive at spring training healthy and ready to compete for a prominent role in Minnesota's 2027 lineup.

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[MackMan]

Well, this isn't entirely encouraging to know that our #1 prospect is yet again injured? or needing a cleanup of some joint of some sort. But I wonder if this is why his arm hasn't looked super strong in the outfield when people talk about him. I'm hopeful for a quick and healthy recovery for the young man. 

[PuckettPond]

Will this move him to 1st base?

[RpR]

30 minutes ago, PuckettPond said:

Will this move him to 1st base?

It will move him to AAA at least for awhile.

[MackMan]

1 hour ago, PuckettPond said:

Will this move him to 1st base?

Not everyone is Bryce Harper and willing to make that move to better the team. But then again, the Phillies did need his bat more than they needed him in the field, but DH was taken with Schwarber being unable to play a single position that requires anything but having a bat in your hand.

[SteveLV]

Why would arthroscopic elbow surgery in October force him to go to AAA?  That is a strange takeaway.

[mrmpls]

Bring Luke in with him and see what the DR.can do --  how is it Pitchers come back after TOM John surgery  which Luke had also and his arm is worse than before the surgery,  something stinks with that ?

[mrmpls]

On 9/30/2026 at 2:43 PM, SteveLV said:

Why would arthroscopic elbow surgery in October force him to go to AAA?  That is a strange takeaway.

because he hates all young guys !! he would rather see 30 year olds than rookies

[wesnewy]

I'm over this team. How can nobody with even some resemblance of a good to great player stay healthy

[MackMan]

1 minute ago, wesnewy said:

I'm over this team. How can nobody with even some resemblance of a good to great player stay healthy

Because it's a long and grueling season. Also, some of these minor injuries could have been building up for a long time. A lot of players don't really take time off to rest and recuperate anymore. They're working out or training all year long nowadays. 

[purplesoldier4u]

2 hours ago, MackMan said:

Because it's a long and grueling season. Also, some of these minor injuries could have been building up for a long time. A lot of players don't really take time off to rest and recuperate anymore. They're working out or training all year long nowadays. 

Waahhh for them! I'd tell them to get a little tougher. You know what's tough? Working concrete, heavy landscaping, and HVAC for 40 years!

[Coach]

What if the arthroscopic surgery makes his tendons heal too tight?  Could Jenkins become our "Rookie of the Year"?  😁

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Well the off season bickering and negativity has begun. Hurry spring.

[killercarewoliva]

16 hours ago, MackMan said:

Not everyone is Bryce Harper and willing to make that move to better the team. But then again, the Phillies did need his bat more than they needed him in the field, but DH was taken with Schwarber being unable to play a single position that requires anything but having a bat in your hand.

this is how it's been now for several decades and Bryce Harper is one of the leaders. he is not a team player. he is a most money player. was he drafted by the Phillies? no, he was bought by the Phillies as he left where he was drafted from. I mean pretty much anybody will do that. the way things are now. he would not shake the commissioner's hand. he spent a hot dog since minor leagues when he hit a home run and he looked at the pitcher and laughed as he tried it to first base. he makes $30 million a season and if and of course it's late in his career. this won't happen but if somebody offered him $40 million he would take it and to heck with the Phillies. I obviously don't like this guy because he's not a credible person on and off the field like people are. that is the reason I'm a twins fan. we have harm and killerbrew we have rod carew we have Tony Oliva Justin morneau latroy Hawkins Joe mauer and the list goes on and on but Bryce Harper is not one of those type people. Harmon's son Cameron said at age 14 everybody knows the ball was not a strike but the umpire and he was fussy. Harmon took his sign and went home. Harper does not act like the names I just mentioned. he wants to win a world series. that's why he moved to first base. and I hope he never does. he would not shake the commissioner's hand because he sees salary cap coming which would be huge money just like with basketball and football. how much money does one man need to take care of his family. how much money do people need to buy a season ticket? it can easily be $100,000 if you're sitting near the field. Mr. Harper doesn't care how much you have to spend

[Patzky]

13 hours ago, purplesoldier4u said:

Waahhh for them! I'd tell them to get a little tougher. You know what's tough? Working concrete, heavy landscaping, and HVAC for 40 years!

You should find an easier career.. like sportswriter!

[MackMan]

9 minutes ago, killercarewoliva said:

this is how it's been now for several decades and Bryce Harper is one of the leaders. he is not a team player. he is a most money player. was he drafted by the Phillies? no, he was bought by the Phillies as he left where he was drafted from. I mean pretty much anybody will do that. the way things are now. he would not shake the commissioner's hand. he spent a hot dog since minor leagues when he hit a home run and he looked at the pitcher and laughed as he tried it to first base. he makes $30 million a season and if and of course it's late in his career. this won't happen but if somebody offered him $40 million he would take it and to heck with the Phillies. I obviously don't like this guy because he's not a credible person on and off the field like people are. that is the reason I'm a twins fan. we have harm and killerbrew we have rod carew we have Tony Oliva Justin morneau latroy Hawkins Joe mauer and the list goes on and on but Bryce Harper is not one of those type people. Harmon's son Cameron said at age 14 everybody knows the ball was not a strike but the umpire and he was fussy. Harmon took his sign and went home. Harper does not act like the names I just mentioned. he wants to win a world series. that's why he moved to first base. and I hope he never does. he would not shake the commissioner's hand because he sees salary cap coming which would be huge money just like with basketball and football. how much money does one man need to take care of his family. how much money do people need to buy a season ticket? it can easily be $100,000 if you're sitting near the field. Mr. Harper doesn't care how much you have to spend

First, off paragraphs and sentence structure would really help, as this hurt my brain attempting to read. Who cares if he doesn't shake the commissioners hand? The commissioner is horrible. He didn't do anything about the Houston Cheating scandal from 10 years ago anyways. 

Isn't the point of MLB to win a World Series, or is it just an excuse to hang out with the homies? I mean this is a professional sport here. I would hope that winning is a priority for a lot of these players. 

Now when his contract expires and a team were to offer him $40 Million, he would be dumb to turn it down. I would go there if I were a player. That's like saying you'd turn down a job that paid $40/hr when you currently make $30/hr. The logic behind doesn't make any sense. Teams don't value loyalty over WS titles. 

Yes, tickets could be $100k for those seats, but no one is going to buy them. Remember: Fans dictate how much money a team makes. Look at the Twins. We had a record low for attendance this year in almost 25 years. If fans are tired of paying those prices, they'll just stop going. If fans are tired of a FO or organizational ineptitude, they will stop supporting their local team. 

[killercarewoliva]

1 hour ago, MackMan said:

First, off paragraphs and sentence structure would really help, as this hurt my brain attempting to read. Who cares if he doesn't shake the commissioners hand? The commissioner is horrible. He didn't do anything about the Houston Cheating scandal from 10 years ago anyways. 

Isn't the point of MLB to win a World Series, or is it just an excuse to hang out with the homies? I mean this is a professional sport here. I would hope that winning is a priority for a lot of these players. 

Now when his contract expires and a team were to offer him $40 Million, he would be dumb to turn it down. I would go there if I were a player. That's like saying you'd turn down a job that paid $40/hr when you currently make $30/hr. The logic behind doesn't make any sense. Teams don't value loyalty over WS titles. 

Yes, tickets could be $100k for those seats, but no one is going to buy them. Remember: Fans dictate how much money a team makes. Look at the Twins. We had a record low for attendance this year in almost 25 years. If fans are tired of paying those prices, they'll just stop going. If fans are tired of a FO or organizational ineptitude, they will stop supporting their local team. 

I don't proofread my talk texting and this Google stuff is just ridiculous. it'll put a period in the middle of a sentence a? where it doesn't belong. no question marks where they do belong. it's crazy. I have decent pronunciation but I don't worry about it on here. Yes, I realize what you said. part of that mostly is true. Jeffers would like to stay but if someone offers him a lot more money naturally he's going to take it. the players association wanted 3 years instead of six which would absolutely ruin baseball. they want it so they can leave the team that drafted them in 3 years. so yes, what you say is very true. there's no loyalty. it's a business correct sir, but it's not exactly like a regular job. when a fan goes to a New York Yankees game and they've had $1,600 seats for quite a while. when I saw that I thought now we are exceeding football crisis which only have 10 games a season. this sport has 81. why do you need to charge $1,600? we need to understand that baseball is much more difficult to rate a potential draft pick over other sports. what's his name to catcher from Seattle? who was so fantastic last year this year? he's nothing. you just don't know when a guy that's pitching that baseball plays every five games. he's maybe because they don't pitch the whole game so he's probably pitching about 15% of his teams games and making over $20 million. who wouldn't want to be that guy. he can watch his fellow workers work 85% of the time and he doesn't have to do anything on the field. I try to make the point with people and I've yet to find anybody who understands so maybe it's just me who's stupid. who is worth a million dollars to play 162 ball games? who is worth $70 million to do the same? are we crazy or what paying these people that kind of money? it makes no sense. if you cut the prices by 70% pay the players 70% less. they'd still come out if that was the going rate because they're still making more than most anywhere else. if you want to pay a million to somebody, give it to the doctor who just saved your dad who has heart issues or give a heart transplant pay them $2 million. that's where it comes in worth it. not a ball game. 1999, I saw the Vikings play the Ravens in Baltimore. I sat in the corner of the end zone halfway up next to the next section. the price of the ticket was $35. that's reasonable. whatever it is now is not reasonable and seeing Minnesota twins tickets behind home plate. very few people get to sit there because the price is extraordinarily high. this needs to stop. it's never going to end. when are we going to have the first billion dollar a year player? you see how crazy that sounds. don't go. I boycott all major League sports. I will never go to another game. I have my big screen television. it's the only way I'm going to do it and if everybody would do that. we might get better prices and the players wouldn't be laughing at our faces.

[killercarewoliva]

Just now, killercarewoliva said:

I don't proofread my talk texting and this Google stuff is just ridiculous. it'll put a period in the middle of a sentence a? where it doesn't belong. no question marks where they do belong. it's crazy. I have decent pronunciation but I don't worry about it on here. Yes, I realize what you said. part of that mostly is true. Jeffers would like to stay but if someone offers him a lot more money naturally he's going to take it. the players association wanted 3 years instead of six which would absolutely ruin baseball. they want it so they can leave the team that drafted them in 3 years. so yes, what you say is very true. there's no loyalty. it's a business correct sir, but it's not exactly like a regular job. when a fan goes to a New York Yankees game and they've had $1,600 seats for quite a while. when I saw that I thought now we are exceeding football crisis which only have 10 games a season. this sport has 81. why do you need to charge $1,600? we need to understand that baseball is much more difficult to rate a potential draft pick over other sports. what's his name to catcher from Seattle? who was so fantastic last year this year? he's nothing. you just don't know when a guy that's pitching that baseball plays every five games. he's maybe because they don't pitch the whole game so he's probably pitching about 15% of his teams games and making over $20 million. who wouldn't want to be that guy. he can watch his fellow workers work 85% of the time and he doesn't have to do anything on the field. I try to make the point with people and I've yet to find anybody who understands so maybe it's just me who's stupid. who is worth a million dollars to play 162 ball games? who is worth $70 million to do the same? are we crazy or what paying these people that kind of money? it makes no sense. if you cut the prices by 70% pay the players 70% less. they'd still come out if that was the going rate because they're still making more than most anywhere else. if you want to pay a million to somebody, give it to the doctor who just saved your dad who has heart issues or give a heart transplant pay them $2 million. that's where it comes in worth it. not a ball game. 1999, I saw the Vikings play the Ravens in Baltimore. I sat in the corner of the end zone halfway up next to the next section. the price of the ticket was $35. that's reasonable. whatever it is now is not reasonable and seeing Minnesota twins tickets behind home plate. very few people get to sit there because the price is extraordinarily high. this needs to stop. it's never going to end. when are we going to have the first billion dollar a year player? you see how crazy that sounds. don't go. I boycott all major League sports. I will never go to another game. I have my big screen television. it's the only way I'm going to do it and if everybody would do that. we might get better prices and the players wouldn't be laughing at our faces.

I would like to do a quick comparison. the most money Harmon killerbrew made in a season was $110,000. players were being paid $10,000 for the season like. Jim Katt made $13,000 one year. with today's economy, let's just add a zero to that. $110,000. 1,100,000. you see the rate of inflation isn't even close and that is how ticket prices have gone also. Mr. Lopez, what a wonderful person! $23,000 to play 15% of the Minnesota twins games. that's crazy. I hope the twins don't decide to put crazy money in the pockets of the dudes that pitch the ball because their arms can go down very quickly and they still get paid.

[MackMan]

3 minutes ago, killercarewoliva said:

I don't proofread my talk texting and this Google stuff is just ridiculous. it'll put a period in the middle of a sentence a? where it doesn't belong. no question marks where they do belong. it's crazy. I have decent pronunciation but I don't worry about it on here. Yes, I realize what you said. part of that mostly is true. Jeffers would like to stay but if someone offers him a lot more money naturally he's going to take it. the players association wanted 3 years instead of six which would absolutely ruin baseball. they want it so they can leave the team that drafted them in 3 years. so yes, what you say is very true. there's no loyalty. it's a business correct sir, but it's not exactly like a regular job. when a fan goes to a New York Yankees game and they've had $1,600 seats for quite a while. when I saw that I thought now we are exceeding football crisis which only have 10 games a season. this sport has 81. why do you need to charge $1,600? we need to understand that baseball is much more difficult to rate a potential draft pick over other sports. what's his name to catcher from Seattle? who was so fantastic last year this year? he's nothing. you just don't know when a guy that's pitching that baseball plays every five games. he's maybe because they don't pitch the whole game so he's probably pitching about 15% of his teams games and making over $20 million. who wouldn't want to be that guy. he can watch his fellow workers work 85% of the time and he doesn't have to do anything on the field. I try to make the point with people and I've yet to find anybody who understands so maybe it's just me who's stupid. who is worth a million dollars to play 162 ball games? who is worth $70 million to do the same? are we crazy or what paying these people that kind of money? it makes no sense. if you cut the prices by 70% pay the players 70% less. they'd still come out if that was the going rate because they're still making more than most anywhere else. if you want to pay a million to somebody, give it to the doctor who just saved your dad who has heart issues or give a heart transplant pay them $2 million. that's where it comes in worth it. not a ball game. 1999, I saw the Vikings play the Ravens in Baltimore. I sat in the corner of the end zone halfway up next to the next section. the price of the ticket was $35. that's reasonable. whatever it is now is not reasonable and seeing Minnesota twins tickets behind home plate. very few people get to sit there because the price is extraordinarily high. this needs to stop. it's never going to end. when are we going to have the first billion dollar a year player? you see how crazy that sounds. don't go. I boycott all major League sports. I will never go to another game. I have my big screen television. it's the only way I'm going to do it and if everybody would do that. we might get better prices and the players wouldn't be laughing at our faces.

I completely agree with you on Professional Athletes being overpaid. I will never argue with someone about that. But I also look at it from a different perspective. Baseball, football, hockey, soccer, or really and professional sport has a shelf life. You aren't going to be playing this sport forever, or until you turn 65. Most players never make it to 10 years of major league service time, which guarantees them many lifelong benefits. 

Professional athletes are people too. Are they over paid? Yes. But again. Shelf life stuff. But with that, there are expected results. Not everyone can be Anthony Rendon and sign a huge contract and play in less than 50% of their games. 

Doctors on the other hand can work until they decide they don't want to. Should they still be working well into their 70's and 80's? Probably not. But at that point they've (probably) been a doctor for 40-50 years depending on when they got their MD. You cannot compare apples to oranges when it comes to careers or professions. Also, not to mention if they stay in that profession for 10 years(ish) their schooling is paid for. 

As I stated earlier. If the tickets for a game become too expensive, the fan base will let the ownership know by not showing up to the game. It's that simple. That's what makes the Free Market so much fun. Supply and demand. If a team is having an awesome season, the seat or tickets are in high demand. So the prices will go up. If the teams are like the Twins or the Rockies, the tickets are probably going to go down just to try and fill the seats. As an owner, I'd much rather fill the stadium at 100% capacity with half price tickets, than fill the stadium 50% capacity with full price tickets. With a full stadium I am more likely to make more money off the food and merchandise than I am to fill with a half filled stadium. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

I quit reading this debate because was getting a headache. No mas.

[Steve Lein]

Explains why I have never thought the scouting report on Jenkins' "arm" ever lived up to the hype (it being a strong "plus" arm)... Have often thought he looked like he was holding back on purpose, and never really trying to cut someone down when he should have had a chance to.

I take this as good news. Both that he played through it like he has, and that this could help unlock more.

[Linus]

I Wonder why they waited when it has been bothering him for 3-4 years?  Hope it clears everything up but he will likely miss some off season work which isn’t ideal. 

[JADBP]

On 9/30/2026 at 11:23 AM, PuckettPond said:

Will this move him to 1st base?

LOL...definitely not!

[JADBP]

On 9/30/2026 at 11:54 AM, RpR said:

It will move him to AAA at least for awhile.

I will put ten bucks on him breaking with the Twins out of ST!

[RpR]

57 minutes ago, JADBP said:

I will put ten bucks on him breaking with the Twins out of ST!

If you so believe.