Mega-prospect Walker Jenkins joins Cedar Rapids Kernels

CEDAR RAPIDS — His first inning. His very first inning.

That’s when Walker Jenkins got hurt. That’s some seriously bad luck going into your first full season of professional baseball.

“It’s just part of it, man,” the Cedar Rapids Kernels outfielder said. “It’s part of ball, playing more games than I’ve ever played. That’s always a good learning experience for me. I’d like to go back, wish things were different. But, at the same time, I’ve learned a lot from it. I’ll be able to take away a lot from it.”

Jenkins injured his hamstring successfully chasing down a long fly ball to the fence in left-center field in an early April game for the low-Class A Fort Myers Mighty Mussels. He missed a month and a half of action before returning.

The fifth-overall pick in the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft had a so-so June but great July, hitting .315 and walking 11 more times than he struck out. That prompted being moved up to the high-A Kernels this week.

The 19-year-old played his second game Wednesday afternoon with Cedar Rapids, going 1-for-5 with a run in his team’s 15-3 loss to Great Lakes.

“Yes and no,” he said, when asked if he expected his promotion. “I think if it’s strictly based off of performance, I think it’s reasonable that I’m up here. Based on how I’ve done. I didn’t play great, but I played solid. But I wasn’t sure (what was going to happen). With the injury stuff, I thought they might keep me down in Florida, at the complex. But I sure am thankful to be here.

“It’s not quite as hot.”

Jenkins is the most highly regarded prospect to play for the Kernels since first-overall pick Royce Lewis was here in 2018. Considered the best North Carolina high school hitter since Josh Hamilton in 1999, the Minnesota Twins signed him to a contract with a signing bonus of $7,144,200.

A center fielder now but perhaps a right fielder eventually, MLB.com has him listed as Minnesota’s top prospect, the No. 5 prospect in all of the minor leagues. Expectations for this kid are sky high.

“To be honest, I really don’t think about that stuff,” Jenkins said. “We’re out here, we’re all on the same baseball field, I don’t feel like I’m any different, don’t feel like I get any special attention, really. I’m just out here to play baseball.”

And to learn the pro game, develop more the rest of the season, and stay healthy.

“I think the better I feel, the better I perform,” Jenkins said. “Now that I’m starting to get my legs back under me, starting to get into a routine of playing ball, I think it has helped me. I’ve never been too worried about it. I think it’s work really hard, and I think that hard work is going to pay off. It’s in the long run. It’s a long game, a long season, I plan on having a long career.

“So I plan on working hard each and every day. Coming out here, and even if I have a bad day or a bad week, a bad month, I plan on turning it around. Just put solid baseball together.”

He said he has been educated a lot in a short amount of time.

“I’d say it’s learning how to go about your day. How to go about your week,” Jenkins said. “Just kind of developing a routine, that’s the biggest thing. You get to Fort Myers, you get here to Cedar Rapids, it’s ‘All right, I’ve got to figure things out. How do things go? How do I manage my body? How do I manage how I play? How do I help the team win?’ Try to fit into that puzzle, be the piece that they need me to be.”

“He’s just getting adjusted to the league,” said Kernels Manager Brian Dinkelman. “He’s athletic, can run a little bit. He’s a young kid, strong and can swing it ... We’re going to let him get out there and play and continue to learn the game.”

This was a suboptimal game for the Kernels (55-41, 18-14), to say the least.

Starting pitcher Jeremy Lee walked six and gave up five runs in one-plus inning. Play from the home team was less than crisp throughout.

It got so bad, catcher Matthew Clayton made his Kernels debut. As an emergency pitcher for the eighth and ninth innings.

The teams play again Thursday night at 6:35.

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