Video: Twins Top Prospect Walker Jenkins Leaves Game After Run in with Outfield Wall

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Photo courtesy of the MLB (via @MLBPipeline - X)

Minnesota Twins top prospect Walker Jenkins projects as, not just one of the top teenagers in professional baseball, but one of the top overall prospects in the entire minor league landscape, ranking No. 15 overall by The Athletic, No. 10 overall by MLB.com and No. 14 by ESPN.

He immediately became the brightest potential star in the Twins organization the moment they drafted him No. 5 overall in the 2023 MLB Draft. But nobody told Walker or his family or anyone who cares about him what all of us Minnesota sports fans already know. We are not allowed to have nice things here.

Minnesota Twins top prospect Walker Jenkins leaves Mighty Mussels game with injury

In typical Minnesota sports fashion, Walker made a spectacular catch in the centerfield during the top of the 2nd inning during the single-A Mighty Mussels opener on Friday night. After reeling it in, he kind of runs up the wall for one step, nothing that screams ‘INJURY!’. But clearly, Jenkins knew pretty quickly that something was wrong. He walked off the field without any help, and now we wait…

And I’d like to formally apologize for whatever pain playing for a Twins-affiliated team may have already caused Walker Jenkins and everyone close to him. I wish I could say I’m surprised by this happening, but I’m not. All we can do now is hope and pray that this is one of those false alarms that we sometimes get from the Minnesota sports gods.

Where they rain terror down on all of us, just to remind fans how quickly nice things can be taken away, but then we find out it’s a minor injury that won’t cause much time or future development. We’ve seen that happen with Anthony Edwards, right across the street from Target Field (Target Center) a couple of times this season.

Related: Twins Top Prospect Walker Jenkins Drawing Superstar Comparisons from MLB Scouts

As noted by Aram Leighton (JustBaseball.com), Jenkins was scratched from the Twins’ “Spring Breakout” game a couple of weeks ago, with a quad strain. It would make me feel better to know it was related to that, but we will see.

How good is Walker Jenkins? Really good…

In just 26 games (105 AB) last season, between rookie ball and single A, the 18-year-old Jenkins hit .362 with .988 OPS that included 5 doubles, 4 triples, 3 home runs and 22 RBI; immediately launching onto the pro baseball scene as a potential franchise-changing talent. Let’s hope we get to see that talent play a lot of games this summer…

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