How Does Walker Jenkins Stack Up Against the Rest of the 2023 Draft’s Big 5?

Walker Jenkins is the next great hope. A ton of expectations are riding on his skill set. 

I love how the Twins are pushing him. He’s done the same thing at every level when pushed. I watch and he adjusts the same same way.  He’s struggles right away. Then he adjusts and leans on his immense plate discipline. May not hit well but doesn’t swing at bad pitches. Eventually the singles come with the good AB’s and plate discipline. After a few weeks the singles turn into doubles. Eventually once he’s comfortable the hard hits and homers come. All while keeping the previously stated plate discipline. After a month or two he settles in and the batting line is around .300/.400/.400 usually a bit better but that’s the bottom line. All while being one of the youngest in the league he’s in. A stud!

Jenkins is half the key to a fast turnaround for the Twins.  If he hits with an .800+ OPS the lineup improves in a hurry.  That allows Larnarch to be DH and all we need is a 1B and for either Lee or Culpepper to produce at SS for the other half of the key to a fast turnaround.  And the lineup is set and Deep.  Santana will be cheep again next year and we will have rookies to try out at 1B too.  

What I saw at the draft prospects rankings it was #1 Crew, #2 Langford, #3 Skenes, #4 Jenkins & #5 Clark. PIT drafted Skenes #1 in hope of slight under-slot. But Skenes turned out to be the best prospect by far.

I like how Jenkins is projecting & the focus is letting him develop as a hitter before the slugging, which limits his Ks.

There is no way that Jenkins's defense dethrones Buxton off CF. Keep him at the cOF until Buxton is gone & let there be competition for CF.

2 hours ago, TNtwins85 said:

I love how the Twins are pushing him. He’s done the same thing at every level when pushed. I watch and he adjusts the same same way.  He’s struggles right away. Then he adjusts and leans on his immense plate discipline. May not hit well but doesn’t swing at bad pitches. Eventually the singles come with the good AB’s and plate discipline. After a few weeks the singles turn into doubles. Eventually once he’s comfortable the hard hits and homers come. All while keeping the previously stated plate discipline. After a month or two he settles in and the batting line is around .300/.400/.400 usually a bit better but that’s the bottom line. All while being one of the youngest in the league he’s in. A stud!

It would be nice if the Twins pushed their pitching prospects this hard. Joe Ryan finally broke out at 29. So if we don’t trade him we will have maybe 4 years of his prime available. 

I saw Crews live on Saturday. He's a complete mess right now. Several Ks, one on three pitches, and lots of uncomfortable check swings. It was really ugly. To stand out in that way, in that lineup is hard to do. It looks like the season can't end soon enough for him, and he may already need a change of scenery. 

2 hours ago, HFC said:

Nice article.  It would be interesting to see how picks 6-10 are doing, the guys they passed on.

Jacob Wilson (6th) has been really good for the A's.  Rhett Lowder (7th) looked good last year, but injuries have limited him to 7IP in 25. Blake Mitchell (8th) has been strikeout prone in the low minors but is still a solid prospect. Chase Dollander (9th) is struggling pitching in COL. Noble Meyer (10th) is showing why teams don't like to take HS pitchers high.

Definitely was the right move to just take Jenkins.  Would rather have Wilson right now, but those 5 players were all viewed as roughly the same caliber at the time so nowhere near a safe bet we would have taken Wilson.

On one hand, this year has been very good for him, but I'd still kind of hold off on saying he's a sure thing next year. He's only got 1 hit in AAA across the 6 games he's been in. A somewhat small sample size still, I know, but he definitely needs to take some more time to adjust to higher level pitching. I still see them having him try out in Spring Training and anything can really happen. Either way, I see him spending at least a month or two in AAA next year to see he can adjust to that level.

Same old thing every year.  Always drooling over the next can't miss prospects.  I admit the early returns have been good and he's only 20.  But sorry I have to see him do it consistently at the major league level.  The Twins have screwed up so many of their so called can't miss prospects that I am very skeptical.  They come up here talented and then are stuck with baldelli.  So many of them fizzle out in their mid to upper twenties.  I hope Jenkins does great.  We need him

I didn't view Crews as "can't-miss."  I viewed him as overrated with a good chance to be mediocre.  My ranking of the five was:

1.  Langford

2. Skenes

3.  Clark

4.  Jenkins

5.  Wilson

Crews I sometimes put 5 when the discussion was simply about the five.  Otherwise Crews was somewhere in the second five.  Gonzalez I absolutely hated, and there were guesses he was going to be a Twin before the lottery.  He won't even make the majors for more than a cup.  I did like Schanuel but was warned he probably the next Casey Kotchman.

13 hours ago, awmonahan said:

I saw Crews live on Saturday. He's a complete mess right now. Several Ks, one on three pitches, and lots of uncomfortable check swings. It was really ugly. To stand out in that way, in that lineup is hard to do. It looks like the season can't end soon enough for him, and he may already need a change of scenery. 

Royce Lewis….type. Crews will find his bat. 

I am still wondering how Jenkins fell to 5. Clark’s speed was his calling card and Crews OPS was ridiculous and over rated. I also had Jacob Wilson in my top 5 and expected Dollander to be better than he has been but he does pitch at Coors field. 

I see no point in comparing Skenes pick to the other 4, but the other 4 will long be compared as they are all OF.  2 college 2 HS.  Personally, I like HS bats over college bats for upside, and college arms over HS.  I think Clark and Jenkins will be compared more to each other as both HS and Langford and Crews will be compared. 

So far, it looks like the last taken, making the Twins pick easy, might be the best.  Still too early on all 4, but Crews, the first taken, is looking like the worst.  Clark is moving slowly and nothing to say bust yet, but nothing to say top future star either. Langford has been good, but if he is just corner guy with average just above average offense and average defense his value will be much lower. 

23 hours ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

If in fact Jenkins arrives next season, the big question is… does Buck move to a corner OF spot or does Jenkins debut there?

Buxton still has elite speed and defense. So I doubt he will need to move anytime soon.

I think Max was projected to remain in CF and Jenkins was projected to be able to play CF but be elite in the corner OF similar to Kepler.  That is probably why Detroit took Max over Jenkins.