St. Paul – There still will be some late-season fun to be had for Minnesota Twins fans as the disappointing 2025 season winds down.
The Twins traded 11 players at the deadline, and poor performances from their core young players have resulted in an 8-13 record since. Worse yet, the Pohlads announced their intention to retain ownership for the foreseeable future. Still, there is one glimmer of hope that will make September baseball fun in Minnesota – at least at Triple-A.
On Sunday, multiple sources confirmed with Zone Coverage that the Twins are moving the organization’s top prospect, 20-year-old Walker Jenkins, to Triple-A St. Paul for the last four weeks of the season.
MLB Pipeline ranked Jenkins as the 15th-best prospect in baseball, and he has earned the promotion after a hot August in Double-A. He put up a .333/.449/.524 slash line, 15.1% walk rate, 18.5% strikeout rate, three home runs, and 8 RBI in 17 games with the Wichita Wind Surge in August. Jenkins has hit .304/.426/.477 with eight home runs, 26 RBI, and 13 stolen bases collectively in 60 games this season.
The promotion came somewhat as a pleasant surprise to Twins fans when it was reported on Sunday. Still, around this time last year, the player development department had done the same thing with fellow top outfield prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez.
They promoted Rodriguez on Sept. 2, with only three weeks remaining in the 2024 season. However, his playing time was unfortunately limited to just seven games because he suffered a right thumb injury that shut him down for the rest of the season. Still, not before he gave Saints fans one flash of excitement with an inside-the-park grand slam for his first Triple-A home run.
This is one way to hit your first Triple-A home run. The
number 15 prospect in baseball and the #MNTwins number 2 prospect, Emmanuel Rodriguez with an inside the park grand slam. pic.twitter.com/zybTQkmiWY
— St. Paul Saints (@StPaulSaints) September 8, 2024
The one downside of the timing of Jenkins’ call-up is that the Saints have only one homestand remaining because three of their final four series are on the road.
Jenkins isn’t immune to injuries, though. He missed most of April and all of May with a left ankle sprain that had nagged him since spring training. But since he began a rehab assignment on June 3, he’s rarely missed any playing time, which provides a lot of hope that he can stay healthy on the field for the rest of the season this year.
Even with one homestand left on the schedule from Sept. 9-15, fans shouldn’t pass up any opportunities they have that week to see Jenkins play in person. Jenkins has lofty expectations on his shoulders for how he can impact the future of this franchise, similar to the ones people placed on Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Miguel Sano, Byron Buxton, and Royce Lewis when they were prospects.
He’s just the second franchise-altering prospect that fans will have a chance to see play just 15 minutes away from Target Field in St. Paul after Lewis. That alone should be enough to draw fans to see him. Twins fans never had the opportunity to see most of their top prospects play just a call away from the majors before the 2021 season. Now Jenkins is here and brings about the best representation of hope Twins fans can find for the 2026 season and beyond.
Jenkins, 20, will be the youngest player in the International League this season. Saints teammate Gabriel Gonzalez, 21, previously held that title for just over three weeks.
Twins fans will get an up-close glimpse into a brighter future, and Jenkins’ addition to the Saints should also provide some fun fall ball. The Saints are on the brink of being eliminated from the Triple-A playoffs. Still, regardless of whether they qualify for the postseason, they know how to keep their fans entertained with their bats and off-field shenanigans.
The Saints will play their final six-game series at home against the Columbus Clippers, who recently added Travis Bazzana, the Cleveland Guardians’ top prospect and No. 1 overall pick from the 2024 MLB Draft, to their own roster a few weeks ago. That in itself will make it entertaining for two of the games’ brightest young prospects to face off against each other to end their 2025 seasons.
No one should pass up the opportunity to see Jenkins play at Triple-A. Mike Veeck created the motto, ‘Fun is Good,’ when he established the Saints in 1993.
The Twins have had a forgettable season. Still, Jenkins’s presence in Minnesota will provide some much-needed ‘Fun is Good’ moments that fans need after a long month of changes.