St. Paul – Walker Jenkins will run through walls for any of his teammates. However, launching into the outfield wall has been the root cause of him landing on the injured list each of the past three seasons.
“I’ve had a lot of people tell me to stop running into walls,” Jenkins said. “It’s gotten me three years in a row, but part of me is like, I’ll never be able to turn that off where I want to go get and make plays and help the team win. I hope it never happens again, but I saved my pitcher a couple runs, and I can’t help it.”
Jenkins’s latest wall-related injury occurred on May 3. In the top of the sixth inning, the Iowa Cubs had a runner on second with two outs when Saints reliever Drew Smith served up a fastball up and in on I-Cubs first baseman Jonathan Long. Long hit a ball into the right-center field gap, and Jenkins tracked it down but came crashing into the outfield wall, saving Smith and the Saints from a run.
He ended up leaving the game with a Grade 2 AC joint sprain in his left shoulder, and it took five weeks before he got back into game action on a rehab assignment, and two more before he’d return to the St. Paul Saints lineup. However, when he did last Tuesday in Louisville, it was as if he hadn’t missed an at-bat, as he hit a triple at 108.7 MPH off the bat against rehabbing Cincinnati Reds ace Hunter Greene.
“It’s good to have him back,” said Saints manager Brian Dinkelman. “Missing time there, but always exciting to have him back in the lineup every day and roaming the outfield. So good start to the week with the triple off of Hunter there and just looks like he’s healthy and taking good at-bats, so it’s good to have him back.”
“It’s great to have everyone healthy, and now that everybody is back, it’s just the vibes are still great,” said Saints infielder Tanner Schobel. “We just have a lot of great players, and it’s just an exciting time for the Twins organization and a good time in St. Paul right now.”
The five weeks since his last game had been the shortest time away from the field that Walker Jenkins has had from an injury over the past three seasons. In 2025, he missed two months; the year before, seven weeks. It’s hard for a player like Jenkins to be away from the field at any time. Still, going through it a third time was easier than the previous two.
He attributes his better mindset on the IL to a stronger devotion to his Christian faith and to his wife, Lexi, who’s an anchor for him off the field. Given the nature of a Grade 2 AC joint sprain, the Twins gave Jenkins a week off before he’d have to report to Fort Myers to begin his rehab plan.
So Jenkins and Lexi spent time exploring around the Twin Cities, primarily going to dog parks with their Australian Shepherd, Rooster. Jenkins described Rooster as high-wired, and when he has to be cautious of an injury, it can be hard for him to keep up with Rooster.
Still, having that extra week before having to report to Florida allowed Jenkins not to dwell on being away from the field and appreciate the time he wouldn’t otherwise have with Lexi and Rooster.
“That was fantastic having my wife just help support me and be around me a little bit more often,” Jenkins said. “But yeah man, the Twins have such a good staff down in Florida, and I’m still around a lot of great guys at the end of the day. My job is still going in and doing baseball stuff. As much as I want to be on the field, there’s not much to complain about when it comes to my bad days.”
In the eight games Jenkins played since his rehab assignment began entering Tuesday night’s game, he has gone 13-for-31 with two home runs, four RBI, and six runs scored. He went 3-for-5, falling a home run short of the cycle Tuesday night at CHS Field, and even helped a kid on the field with him before the game, getting assistance from the team’s training staff for dehydration, living up to his Captain America nickname.
Walker Jenkins was heating up right before the injury, having a .333/.455/.639 slash line with two home runs, five RBI, and a couple stolen bases in a 10-game stretch. The joint sprain may limit some of what he can do moving forward this season, and the Twins will want him to be more cautious on the outfield track to prevent him from running into another wall.
“The hardest thing is to keep a guy from playing hard all the time like he does,” said Dinkelman. “But also, you want him to be smart at times so he can stay on the field and available. So just trying to balance that aggressiveness but also trying to be smart, taking care of yourself.”
“It’s one of those things where I probably won’t feel 100% for the rest of the year with the overall body and the wear and tear of everything,” Jenkins said. “But if I can just go out and step out on that field, I’m going to give it my all. I’m going to go out there and do the best I can. Ultimately, that’s all I can ask of myself. I think the work will pay off and the results will come.”
