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Walker Jenkins

AL Central Notes: Guardians, Taylor, Jenkins

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The Guardians’ estimated $100.4MM payroll is lower than the $104.2MM they spent in 2024, as per RosterResource’s calculations, and Cleveland also moved a lot of long-term money off the books by trading Andres Gimenez and Myles Straw to the Blue Jays in separate deals.  Despite what might seemingly be a bit of extra money available for the Guards to spend before Opening Day, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer thinks the team won’t dip into free agency for any late additions, and is more likely to re-invest those savings towards possible extensions for current players on the roster.

Early-career extensions have long been a key plank of Cleveland’s team-building strategy, dating back to John Hart’s tenure as general manager in the 1990’s.  On the current team, Jose Ramirez, Emmanuel Clase, and Trevor Stephan are all playing on multi-year extensions, and there are plenty of interesting talents the Guardians might look to lock up for the future.  Steven Kwan is in his first of three years of arbitration eligibility, and Tanner Bibee stands out as the top extension candidate among the Guards’ long list of pre-arb players.  It takes two to tango, of course, so there would have to be an equal desire on the part of any interested players in working out an extension that is acceptable to both sides.

More from the AL Central…

  • Michael A. Taylor will undergo scans on his right elbow, White Sox manager Will Venable told reporters (including Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times) today.  Taylor was scratched from the lineup due to what the Sox initially described just as elbow inflammation, but the issue is serious enough to merit more testing.  An injury would be a rough start to Taylor’s stint with the White Sox, as it was less than three weeks ago that the veteran outfielder and former Gold Glover signed his one-year, $1.95MM deal.
  • Walker Jenkins suffered a left ankle sprain last Sunday, and Twins GM Jeremy Zoll told The Athletic’s Dan Hayes and other reporters that Jenkins will be set back around one or two weeks.  This might mean Jenkins misses the very start of the minor league season, but the injury is minor enough that the top prospect shouldn’t be sidelined for too long.  The fifth overall pick of the 2023 draft, the 20-year-old Jenkins is considered one of baseball’s elite prospects, and he made it up the ladder for six games in Double-A last season.  Jenkins’ big league debut is probably likelier to happen in 2026 than in 2025, yet a cup of coffee in the Show could be possible this year if Jenkins keeps performing well against minor league pitching.

Twins Sign First-Rounder Walker Jenkins

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The Twins have announced they have signed Walker Jenkins, their first-round pick from the recent draft. Jenkins will receive a signing bonus of $7.1442MM, slightly north of the $7.1397MM slot value for the fifth overall pick. Jenkins is the last of the first-rounders to get a deal done, with the deadline being 4pm CT today. Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic had previously reported that a deal was close and Jim Callis of MLB.com relayed the figures prior to the official announcement.

Jenkins, 18, is a left-handed hitting outfielder who was selected out of South Brunswick High School in Southport, North Carolina. Coming into the draft, there was broad consensus that the top three players available were Paul Skenes, Dylan Crews and Wyatt Langford, with each of Baseball America, MLB.com, ESPN, FanGraphs and Keith Law of The Athletic having those guys in the top spots in some order. There was also consensus about the next tier, as each of those five outlets had Jenkins and Max Clark in either the #4 or the #5 slot.

All the outlets have praise to dish out for all facets of his game, as he’s considered a quality bat-to-ball hitter who will also be capable of having 30-homer power someday. His speed, defensive acumen and arm strength all point to him being an above-average defender in right field, with a chance of sticking in center field not entirely off the table.

The fact that a talent such as his was available to the Twins is thanks to the new draft lottery system. MLB and the MLBPA agreed to implement a lottery as part of the most recent collective bargaining agreement. Minnesota benefited more than any other club in terms of jumping spots, as they had the 13th-worst record last year but jumped all the way up to get the fifth pick.

Skenes and Crews ended up going first and second, as many expected. The Tigers could have taken Langford third, but instead opted for Clark and signed him to a below-slot deal. That allowed the Rangers to take Langford with the fourth overall pick, signing to an above-slot deal. With four of the consensus top five players off the board, the Twins took the last of that remaining group in Jenkins. Though the negotiations were pushed to the last day, he’s now put pen to paper and will jump into the club’s system. Baseball America already considers him the #17 prospect in the entire league whereas Kiley McDaniel of ESPN said that Jenkins would immediately get his #21 ranking once he signed.

2023 MLB Draft, First Round Results

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The 2023 MLB Draft begins tonight, and this post will be constantly updated with each team’s selections from the first round.  The Mets and Dodgers are the only teams without a first-rounder, as their top picks were each dropped 10 places overall as part of their punishment for exceeding the highest luxury-tax tier in 2022.  As a result, the Mets won’t have a selection until the 32nd overall pick, and the Dodgers won’t select until 36th overall.

The first-round selections….

  1. Pittsburgh Pirates: Paul Skenes, RHP, LSU
  2. Washington Nationals: Dylan Crews, OF, LSU
  3. Detroit Tigers: Max Clark, OF, Franklin Community High School (IN)
  4. Texas Rangers: Wyatt Langford, OF, University Of Florida
  5. Minnesota Twins: Walker Jenkins, OF, South Brunswick High School (NC)
  6. Oakland Athletics: Jacob Wilson, SS, Grand Canyon University
  7. Cincinnati Reds: Rhett Lowder, RHP, Wake Forest
  8. Kansas City Royals: Blake Mitchell, C, Sinton High School (TX)
  9. Colorado Rockies: Chase Dollander, RHP, University of Tennessee
  10. Miami Marlins: Noble Meyer, RHP, Jesuit High School (OR)
  11. Los Angeles Angels: Nolan Schanuel, 1B/OF, Florida Atlantic
  12. Arizona Diamondbacks: Tommy Troy, SS, Stanford
  13. Chicago Cubs: Matthew Shaw, SS, University of Maryland
  14. Boston Red Sox: Kyle Teel, C, University of Virginia
  15. Chicago White Sox: Jacob Gonzalez, SS, University Of Mississippi
  16. San Francisco Giants: Bryce Eldridge, 1B/RHP, Madison High School (VA)
  17. Baltimore Orioles: Enrique Bradfield Jr., OF, Vanderbilt
  18. Milwaukee Brewers: Brock Wilken, 3B, Wake Forest
  19. Tampa Bay Rays: Brayden Taylor, 3B/SS, TCU
  20. Toronto Blue Jays: Arjun Nimmala, SS, Strawberry Crest High School (FL)
  21. St. Louis Cardinals: Chase Davis, OF, University of Arizona
  22. Seattle Mariners: Colt Emerson, SS, Glenn High School (OH)
  23. Cleveland Guardians: Ralphy Velazquez, C, Huntington Beach High School (CA)
  24. Atlanta Braves: Hurston Waldrep, RHP, University of Florida
  25. San Diego Padres: Dillon Head, OF, Homewood-Flossmoor High School (IL)
  26. New York Yankees: George Lombard Jr., 3B/SS, Gulliver Prep High School (FL)
  27. Philadelphia Phillies: Aidan Miller, 3B/SS, Mitchell High School (FL)
  28. Houston Astros: Brice Matthews, SS, University of Nebraska

This year’s draft will again be 20 rounds long, and split over three days.  Rounds 11-20 will take place on Tuesday, rounds 3-10 on Monday, and the draft’s first 70 picks will be made tonight.  Those 70 picks cover the first two official rounds, the two Competitive Balance Rounds, the two sets of compensatory rounds (giving picks to teams who lost qualifying offer-rejecting free agents), and the first-ever Prospect Promotion Incentive Pick.  The Mariners received the PPI selection at 29th overall, since Julio Rodriguez filled the criteria of winning the Rookie Of The Year Award, being part of his team’s active roster from Opening Day onwards, and he ranked as a preseason top-100 prospect by at least two of Baseball America, ESPN, and MLB Pipeline.

The PPI is one of several new wrinkles to the 2023 draft, as this is the first draft held under the new guidelines established by the 2022-2026 Collective Bargaining Agreement.  The process for determining the 14 teams in the Competitive Balance Rounds was also tweaked, though the teams (all in the bottom 10 in market size or revenue size) will still have their picks split up over two mini-rounds sandwiched around the second round.  The most obvious change came at the very top of the board, as this was the first year of the lottery process to determine the draft’s top six picks.  This is how the Pirates ended up with the first overall selection, even though the Nationals and A’s each had worse records in 2022.

This year’s draft class is considered to be one of the deepest and most talent-laden in years, so several potential franchise-changing players could be starting their pro careers tonight.  More details and scouting reports on all these young players are available in pre-draft rankings from Baseball America, Fangraphs, MLB Pipeline, The Athletic’s Keith Law, and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel.  As well, Pipeline has the breakdown of the slot values assigned to each pick in the first 10 rounds, as well as the bonus pool money available to all 30 teams.

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