After recording four hits in his first 16 games, Jenkins notched a three-hit game with a homer on Thursday.
Since the day the Minnesota Twins called up highly touted outfielder Walker Jenkins, the league’s No. 14 ranked prospect, the 21-year-old has yet to figure things out at the plate at the big league level.
Heading into Thursday’s series opener against the Los Angeles Angels, Jenkins had posted a .089 batting average across his first 16 games with the Twins. Through his first 53 plate appearances, he has struck out 16 times and hit just one homer — which happened to be off a position player pitching.
Jenkins knew his struggles had become noteworthy. But he remained confident in his ability to figure things out at the plate.
"I'm going to tell you right now, I'm not going to keep hitting .100 for the rest of my career,” Jenkins said, according to Aaron Gleeman. "I'm going to figure it out."
Suddenly, Jenkins found his stride on Thursday.
Jenkins had his breakout night that he had been waiting for at the plate — the outfielder notched his first career three-hit game, which included his first home run off a dedicated pitcher — and it came at a very impressive time.
Down two runs and representing the Twins’ last out, Jenkins skied a two-run shot over the right-center to tie the game on Minnesota’s last breath, jumping on a 100.9 MPH fastball from Angels’ flamethrower Ben Joyce — the second-fastest pitch a Twins player has ever hit for a home run.
Not only did Jenkins deliver a timely swing, but he delivered a moment of relief for Minnesota, who had been banking on his talents translating to the major league level for a late-season impact.
In total, Jenkins went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI, which has soundly been his best game with the Twins yet. Prior to Thursday’s game, Jenkins had totaled just four base hits in his first 16 games.
It was only a matter of time until Jenkins found it at the major league level. Although it was just one game of it, the signs of comfortability at the plate were there for Jenkins, who had been one of the top bats in the minor leagues throughout 2026.
Though the Twins would end up falling in extra innings, the Twins got to see that the growing pains for Jenkins in the major leagues are destined to not last long. With his plus tools at the plate and all around, Minnesota got a glimpse of what is to come for their outfielder.
