On Sunday, Dan Hayes of The Athletic reported that a recent MRI revealed that Minnesota Twins top prospect Walker Jenkins had a Grade 1 hamstring strain. Jenkins joins a list of recently–injured Twins players, including Pablo López, Joe Ryan, and David Festa.

The good news in all of this is that a Grade 1 strain only takes approximately a week to recover from, at most two. The bad news, though, is that Minnesota’s top prospect is battling some type of injury for the third spring in a row.

Last year, Jenkins was slow to start in camp with a nagging ankle injury. Two years ago, he suffered a hamstring strain on his left leg during the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels season opener and missed a month and a half of games.

No matter how much work Twins prospects put in to keep themselves on and off the field, few have a clean runway that allows them to reach the majors injury-free. Joe Mauer, Byron Buxton, and Royce Lewis experience injury setbacks on their way to the majors.

While the hamstring strain will be Jenkins’ focus over the next week or two, his swing caught everyone’s attention before camp.

Nearly two weeks ago, Jenkins, Kaelen Culpepper, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and a few other Twins prospects were taking batting practice off Justin Morneau. Despite taking BP from a former MVP and hitting with some of Minnesota’s best prospects, Jenkins captivated people’s attention with his Mauer-like swing.

Walker Jenkins BP pic.twitter.com/AvLeA8yasN

— Theodore Tollefson (@TheodoreTollef1) February 17, 2026

Anyone could see the striking similarity Jenkins has to Mauer’s swing on the follow-through. Jenkins turned 21 in camp two weeks ago, almost exactly the same age Mauer made his MLB debut back in 2004 (Mauer turned 21 two weeks after his debut).

Many of Minnesota’s prospects carry the weight of expectations this season, but none more so than Jenkins. Last year, he was the youngest player in the International League, finishing the 2025 season in Triple-A at just 20 years old.

With that came some struggles. Jenkins was 7.3 years younger than the average pitcher’s age; he only hit .242/.324/.396 with an 8.8% walk rate and a 25.5% strikeout rate. There were some glimpses of power after the first week of adjusting to the new level. Jenkins tallied eight extra-base hits in just 18 games, but he’s looking at his opportunity to start the season at Triple-A this year as a clean slate, leaving the learning experience behind.

“End of the year and you’re just not playing as well, and it’s part of the game,” Jenkins said. “So it’s learning from it and move on. Just get better at all of it. Get better and play hard, and find success to help the team.”

Jenkins worked out with Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers near their homes in Wilmington, N.C., for the second straight offseason. In addition to the veteran help in the off-season, Jenkins has been working closely with Byron Buxton in center field and outfield coach Grady Sizemore.

Buxton and Sizemore are two of the best center fielders in the game during the last 25 years. They are valuable resources Jenkins can lean on in his first big-league camp, which is a tremendous benefit for what’s to come this season.

“I’ve been asking Grady a decent amount of questions and just kind of watching how Buxton goes about his game, and his business,” Jenkins said. “So it’s kind of been sitting back and learning this first week or two.”

“Byron and a couple of these other guys have already done a great job stepping up as leaders and the way they go about their work,” said Sizemore. “The young guys next to them, showing them just how to prepare, how to do their job the right way. I think that helps, makes my job easier. So I’m excited about the group.”

Mauer’s swing back in the day may have been a bit of a negative for Sizemore on the field. However, seeing its similarities in Jenkins gives him hope that he, Rodriguez, Gabriel Gonzalez, and Kala’i Rosario could do for Minnesota’s outfield this season or next.

“I think we have a lot of young, talented guys that are right there on the cusp,” Sizemore said. “It’ll be fun as we transition to watch their development and how these guys feed off each other.”

Another injury, which would set Jenkins back a week or two, is far from ideal for Minnesota’s minor-league depth. However, a Grade 1 hamstring strain at the end of February is better timing than some point in the season when a player is already in their daily gameday routine.

Once that hamstring is feeling better, Twins fans can walk down memory lane at Hammond Stadium when Jenkins is at the plate and see for themselves how similar his swing is to Minnesota’s newest member to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

“I sure hope so,” Jenkins said on his swing’s similarity to Mauer. “If I get that kind of praise, I’ll definitely take it.”