Latest / Twin Cities Territory / Should the Twins be worried about Walker Jenkins' struggles?

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Should the Twins be worried about Walker Jenkins' struggles? · Twin Cities Territory

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: For a brief moment on Monday night, we allowed ourselves
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to get sucked back in. Emmanuel Rodriguez hit a two-run triple.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Twins went up 2-1 on the Yankees. At the same time,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: the Guardians and Blue Jays were losing. And we thought, well,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: maybe just hold your tickets. We'll see. But since then,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: it has been, let me do the math real quick, 14-1.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: The Yankees have outscored the Twins since that moment as
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: they take the first two at target field to further
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: send the Twins down the tubes. We'll talk about that
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: a little bit. We'll also talk about the injury to
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Kalen Culpepper from Tuesday night, as well as maybe the
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: one bright spot from the recent days, Emmanuel Rodriguez's early success.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: But we will start today on Twin Cities territory with
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Walker Jenkins. The Twins' top prospect has been struggling mightily.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: He's currently in a 1-for-33 slump. Dan Hayes just wrote
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: about it this morning on The Athletic. You can read
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: about it there. Uh, he spoke yesterday. Was it Dan
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: on Tuesday?
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: He did. He did. First, let me just say, we
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: was doing a lot of work back there on, we were, uh,
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: excited first.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: You were on the text chain.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: You, you felt the energy.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah. We have a screenshots of the text chain that
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: I'm going to hold you guys hostage. Anyways. So no, yeah.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Walker Jenkins talked yesterday and, uh, he was confident. Like
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: it was not what I expected. It was the exact
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: opposite of what I expected. He, um, there was one point.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: So I walked over to him in the pregame clubhouse
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: and he said, Hey, I gotta go get in the cages. And, um,
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: then about two minutes later, he came back over and
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: tapped on my shoulder and said, actually, I can, I
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: can talk now. And, you know, so I knew everybody
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: knew he knew what was coming and, and he didn't
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: duck it. And he probably stood there for about four
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: or five minutes and, answered every question and there were
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: about six or seven questions. And he, uh, like he's
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: very forthright. He's like, um, he knows that he's just
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: not winning at bats right now. Yesterday he was off the,
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: you know, what Max freed lefty on the mountain. They
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: didn't start him, but he basically said, um, I'm not
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: winning at bats right now. I'm not winning at bats
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: the way I'm used to. He said, but I've been
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: on a worse places in my minor league career, uh, mentally.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: And he said, I'm going to figure this out. I'm
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: not going to hit a buck whatever I'm hitting. I
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: didn't have the heart to tell him he's hitting 093.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: But he is like.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: 089 now.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: 089, yeah, that's right. But he went on and on
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: about how he knows he's going to figure it out
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: and that he's just missing his pitches. The thing that
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: stood out is that he's not defeated as bad as
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: this has been. It's been tough. But he made a
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: good point. He said that You know, he's not changed
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: his own game. And his chase rate is actually 3%
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: below the league average. He's got a very good chase
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: rate outside the zone. It's 25.4, I believe. The league
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: average player is 28.6. Chase is outside the zone. So
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: he made the point. I'm not expanding. I'm not trying
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: to do something I'm not capable of. It's just I'm
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: missing my pitches. Now, clearly it's not looking good. right.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: You know, I mean, we're seeing him probably overwhelmed, even
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: though he said he's not overwhelmed, but we're probably seeing
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: him overwhelmed by how good and consistent the off speed
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: pitches are right now. Because you'll just see him want
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: to spit on a slider away and it's painted 92
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: upper half of the zone. And he's like, like has
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: to take it, you know? And it's, it's like, and
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: I think we've seen him behind on the fastball as
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: a result of, You know, like, it's just, I don't know.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: It just, it hasn't looked right and, like, it's working. Like,
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: he's just, I think he is seeing this dominance at
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: a new, like, clip and way better than it ever
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: was in AAA. And it's going to take a little
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: bit to adjust. But, you know, and we'll talk more
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: about why he thinks it, but he insists he's going
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: to get better and that this is just basically a
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: blip on the radar for him.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Here's one of his quotes from Dan's story. I put
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: it on the screen if you're watching on YouTube. But
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: for those listening, I've been in a much worse headspace
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: than I am now, Jenkins said. I'm taking swings that
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: I want to take. I've had really solid plate discipline.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: I'm just missing some of my pitches and losing 3-2
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: at bats or 3-2 counts or getting behind in counts
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: and missing pitches I don't normally miss. I'm battling through
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: some of that right now, and I think it's really,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: really close to being flipped around. We'll see. But I
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: think there were a lot of interesting– points in there.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: He brought up how often he's gotten to full counts.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: And I thought that does sound right. And I looked
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: it up and he's been getting to full counts 20%
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: of the time, which is the Twins as a whole
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: are 13.7% of the time. So 11 out of 53
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: plate appearances. Obviously that only matters if you do something
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: with it, but his numbers, his slash line is a
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: lot better in those 11 at-bats when you get to
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: that point. Tyler, there's also like the, I think it's
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: all valid about travel and about the just adjusting to
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: life in the big leagues i have to imagine even
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: even for a for the you know an alpha male
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: athlete like you all are like going from being the
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: big dog in the triple a clubhouse to coming to
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: the bigs has to be tough like yeah what what
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: do you think watching this so far and do you
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: think there's reason to be worried or or not.
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: No i think and they mentioned it on the broadcast
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: you know and to your point it is you know
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: that that first day of school when you go to
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: high school you know you went from being the eighth
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: grader to the freshman again It really is that.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: It's as simple as that.
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: They made a point on the broadcast of would you
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: rather him be tearing the cover off the baseball right
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: now in St. Paul doing nothing in the real world
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: of stats for baseball. AAA stats have.
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: Nothing to do with big leagues. Once you get up there,
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: they don't care who you are.
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: Anyone with a sane thought process at this point, you
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: want him up struggling now.
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: You want him experiencing this.
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: You want him realizing how good these guys are to
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: take that into his offseason to to when he's in
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: the cage hitting and you know you have every machine
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: on while you're hitting and you know you take a
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: pitch that was close and you're like okay that was
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: a strike I have to be able to hit that
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: you know you can take these lessons you're learning now
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: like these you know see even watching Freed execute a
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: game plan last night like that guy's a proverbial you
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: know Cy Young candidate a dominant lefty in our game
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: and and fortunately I think in a way, like he
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: didn't have to go up there and just get it
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: handed to him. He got to watch him work and
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: realize like, man, these guys are just that tick up
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: or several notches.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: Up at that point. And, and he's learning a lot.
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: You know, it's, it's drinking through a fire hose is
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: the best way to equate it. You know, it's just
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: a lot fast. I loved, I think it was, I
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: don't think it was last night. I think it was
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: the night before, you know, he had had an at bat.
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: I think he popped up to center, but afterwards he was,
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: you know, taking his gloves off at the bench and
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: Josh Bell was standing there and Bell was just letting
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: him kind of vent and listening to him. And you
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: could see he's kind of thinking through things with him. That's,
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: that is more valuable than him getting 20 more at
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: bats in St.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: Paul.
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: He's talking to a guy who's got 10 years in
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: the big leagues. Who's struggled mightily. Who's had incredible years,
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: hit 30, 40 homers, whatever it's been like Josh Bell
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: is there for a reason. There's a reason you have
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: veterans around and it's this right here. You know, you
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: got rookies all over the place. They need some guidance,
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: learning on the fly, and this.
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: Is why you call these guys up.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Well, we posted a poll this morning on our YouTube
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: page of whether or not you, the fans, are worried
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: about the start from Walker Jenkins and surprisingly optimistic results.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: It's a low vote count because it just went up
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: this morning, but 78% of respondents say no, he'll figure
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: it out. And Dan, as you kind of teased earlier,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: he went into some of the reasons why he feels
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: like And so did Derek Shelton as well in that story.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: He talked about why they think he'll turn it around.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Pardon me. The things that stood out to me
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: were he got to Cedar Rapids in 2024, July 2024,
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: and proceeded from Fort Myers and proceeded to go 9
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: for 48. and had a 5.51 OPS through his first
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: 54 plate appearances. Two months later, his numbers were great
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: enough to move on to AA Wichita, where he got
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: to and proceeded to go four for 25. And then
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: next year, the year later, last year, he got to
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: AAA St. Paul in September and proceeded to start out
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: one for 20. So he laughed about this because I
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: brought it up to him. I was like, you know...
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: isn't your MO kind of to go to the next
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: level and fail at the start? And he said, he laughed.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: He said, I was just talking to somebody about this yesterday.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: He's like, I wish I could just go to the
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: next spot and succeed immediately. He's like, it would be
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: so much easier. And he said he was laughing about it.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: But he knows this is part of it. And I
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: think that's really just the perspective from him. I mean,
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: this is a 21-year-old who, you feel like you're talking
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: to an older person as far as their perspective. And
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: obviously he's a baseball, all baseball kind of guy. So
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: he's still young in life, but I, I just thought
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: that like, you know, when he said headspace has been
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: worse spots, you believe him because he really didn't duck anything.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: He's not afraid of talking about it. He didn't brush
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: anything aside. There was no uncomfortable moments. This was just
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: a regular player, talking about a, a trying spell and
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: it was handled maturely. And I think when you see that,
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: like Shelton talked about the fact that this guy is
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: the same every day and he just goes to work
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: and he tries to figure out how to get better.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: And like that level of steady has been there even
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: as he's going through this slump. And that, you know,
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: a lot of people will talk about that as, as
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: far as good teammates go. they don't change, that they're
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: the same guy every day. If that's the basis, if
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: that's the foundation of who you are, that really says
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: a lot about where he can go, I think. Clearly,
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: he has big leaps to make here. He's seen velocity
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: he's never seen before consistently. It's not one or two
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: guys a game. It's every pitcher per game, and it's
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: not You see one or two pitchers every three days
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: at AAA that are this good. You see six guys
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: out of a bullpen come at you. When you see
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: that White Sox bullpen that they faced six times the
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: last two weeks and how many different arms and how
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: many different angles and looks you're getting, I mean, there
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: are so many guys that are just way better than
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: what he's accustomed to, and I think he will get there.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: Keith Beauregard said it, look– like what you guys mentioned
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: about getting on planes and different pictures and all that,
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: all the new things he's facing. They said, but the
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: skill it's backed by the skill and the confidence is there.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: The self-belief is there. And as long as the self-belief
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: is there, that's a great place to start. And he said,
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: I'm not worried at all. And I know that's a
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: coach speaking. Look, I get it. I know a coach
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: is trying to protect players. But I being around long enough,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: you know, that if that, that, Belief in yourself is there,
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: and that's where you're starting from. That's a really healthy
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: spot to be able to get out of those struggles.
• 11:53
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• 12:00
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• 12:03
  Speaker 3: Quick break.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: We'll finish up with Walker Jenkins, talk Emmanuel Rodriguez, Kalen Culpepper,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: and more right after this.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: Eric Kratz.
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• 13:13
  Speaker 1: There certainly is an element of coach speak to it, Dan,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: like you were saying, in that obviously Walker Jenkins and
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: the coaching staff are not going to say, yeah, I'm cooked.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: No shot. But I do– obviously a lot of those
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: reasons I think are legitimate. There's also– I'm looking at
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Byron Buxton's first 102-played appearances in the big leagues right now,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: 188 with a 488 OPS. So it does happen. Jenkins
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: has a track record of struggling at the next level
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: and then figuring it out. To play– devil's advocate like
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: when when fans were clamoring for him to come up
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: to the bigs everyone was trying to find a reason
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: why not and we never really knew but one of
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: the reasons that was thrown out well one of them
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: was the twins maybe don't think he's ready another one
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: was um if you put him on the 40 man
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: roster and there's a lockout then he loses the ability
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: to to work on his game for however long at
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: least under the under the watch of the team at
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: least for however long the lockout goes on. Tyler, at
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: this point, you just made the point that no good
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: comes from walloping AAA pitching anymore. Is this still a
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: preferred outcome for the Twins, even with all these struggles?
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, obviously you want something other than the
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: homer off a position player to happen. But at the
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: same time, Getting the reps regardless, like we hit on
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: the 3-2 counts when we were talking about him.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: You know, he's working at bats.
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: He's just, you know, there's that little, whether it's a
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: little hesitation or unsure, you know, pitch recognition.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: Things like that. It's little stuff that he's getting up
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: to speed on. And it just takes reps. It takes time.
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: You know, I don't know how many at bats he got,
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: like in big league camp this year, you know. But
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: it's a perfect opportunity whenever spring starts next year, like,
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: I wouldn't be surprised to see him, like, at the
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: top of the order to get reps against the A
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: squad versus, you know, the relievers that come in late
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: that are from the backfields and things like that. Like,
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: there's ways to supplement getting these reps always, but the
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: realist version is getting these at-bats now.
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: You know, facing the Yankees, you know, facing these big-time clubs.
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: And, you know, the best of it is, like, he
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: saw today or the last two days as a team
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: that's trying to win a World Series, and that's what
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: it looks like. And for all these young guys, for
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: that matter, they are witnessing that's what a club that's
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: going to the World Series looks like or has an
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: opportunity to.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: And there's just value to be had at all facets.
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: Watching other guys work, watching guys across the field, how
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: they get ready. It's just picking up little things. And
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: with the lockout, especially they're going to hit the offseason,
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: they have some time to put a plan together. Obviously,
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: you would love to be able to talk with your
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: coaches all offseason working through things, but They'll have a
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: plan in place. I'm sure they're already talking about things
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: behind closed doors, getting ready for these games, even working
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: on new drills, new feels, ways to get right.
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: And they'll have something for him.
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: And there always seems to be somehow ways for information
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: to get to each other. At the end of the day,
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: it's the owners and the players and the coaches are
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: kind of just caught in the middle of it, unfortunately.
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: But I wouldn't worry too much about it. Things are
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: going to work out. He's going to be around guys
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: that are big leaders. He's going to go work out
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: wherever he needs to. Twins could probably recommend, hey, go
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: work out here.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: Hang around with these hitters or this group.
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: There's a lot of stuff like that that can happen
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: without needing to have the coaching staff fully involved.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: I think he'll be just fine.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: He's a Boris guy. I'm going to guess that if
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: we have a long lockout that there will be some
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: kind of camp force where you go and, hey, Carlos
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: Rodon's here. Why don't you go step in and face
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: him a bunch of times? I know that during the pandemic,
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: a lot of guys got together and got to face
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: pro pitching. In fact, when I wrote a story about
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: Grady Emerson, who the Rays drafted third overall, second overall,
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: Bobby Witt was– had given him advice and Bobby Witt
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: had said that one thing he did during the lockout
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: was go or during the pandemic was go. And the
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: benefit of spending the whole summer facing pro ball pitchers
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: without having to see your stats. And so he got,
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: you know, just countless reps, countless reps. I think if
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: we had a long lockout, that will still happen and
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: guys will figure out a way, especially with your, if
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: you're a Boris client, it'll take a, hey, you need
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: to take a trip and come see these guys and
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: spend a couple weeks out here because he's North Carolina
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: and Boris is West Coast. But I mean, there'll be
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: something like that.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, IMG Academy or whatever.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: Right, yeah.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Well, time will tell. I think better to get this
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: out of the way now in what's turning out to
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: be a meaningless end of the season than to have
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: it start off that way next year, whenever next year starts.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: But The Twins will finish up a series with the
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: Yankees today. We're not going to talk too much about
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: the last two games. The Yankees crushed the Twins. The
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: sky is blue. Water is wet.
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: 70-81.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Judge is back. They've lost now 16 out of 23
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: games since they swept the Braves and were sitting in
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: that third wildcard spot late last month. Down to fourth
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: in the AL Central. Not very good. And I'm trying
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: to think if there's anything worth talking about at all
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: from that game. Walker Jenkins.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: You want to know what's worth talking about? Yeah. They
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. They're tied
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: with Seattle for seventh right now. Seventh worst record. They
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: are closer to a top five pick right now than
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: they are to the playoff scene, which is wild. And
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: I don't believe– and so the Giants are in there
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: ahead of them. The Giants– The best the Giants can
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: pick is 11th because the Giants had a top 10
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: pick this year. And the big market teams can only
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: finish in the top 10 one year in a row.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: So the Giants, even though they're fourth worst record, can
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: only pick 11th. So the Twins really are tied for
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: sixth as of right now with Seattle.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: Things are looking up.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: The Mets are right there. The Twins are at 70 wins.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: The Mets are at 69 wins. So they're going to
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: battle it out with Cincy, Seattle, KC. I do think
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: that the schedule with the Giants and the Angels coming
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: up can mess this up a little bit, and they'll
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: probably end up around eighth or ninth, but.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: Oh, just you wait. You'd be surprised.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: No, you were right. You were absolutely right.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Their Achilles heel has been bad teams. Yeah, well, I
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: guess this is worth talking about. I did ask people
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: on YouTube what they thought was the biggest reason for
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: the Twins' fade from contention this year. You had four options,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: starting pitching, offense, bullpen, or the anger of the gods.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: And the anger of the gods wins out at 37%.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: So thanks all for humoring me with that one. But yeah,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: it wasn't great. Bailey Ober, you're right, Tyler. He got
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: around some really struggles.
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: Navigated, gave out some hits, and got a solid start.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's all you can ask for.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: I didn't like Walker Jenkins bunting. Obviously, probably hindsight's.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: 20-20 on that one. That was Derek Shelton's call, too.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Derek Shelton said it was all him. Tight game. And
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: that's when I got these random texts from people saying,
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: The Twins might make the playoffs. Look at this. What's
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: going on? The Twins are winning. They were losing.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: At that point, though.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: That was after the Rodriguez triple.
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: Momentum had entered the building.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: It had.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: We will get to Culpepper and we will get to
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: many more Rodriguez after one more break. We'll be right back.
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: Hey, today's episode is presented by the ASPCA Pet Health
• 21:35
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• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Kalen Culpepper's had a rough few days. He got drilled
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: in the back over the weekend against Cleveland and then
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: left Tuesday with a hamstring injury. Dan, what's the latest
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: on another Twins rookie?
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it did not sound great after the game. MRI
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: for today, it's not going to shock me if they
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: shut him down at this point. I mean, hamstring with
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: 10 days left in the season, 11 days, 11 games
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: to go in the season. That timing isn't great. And
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: apparently felt it like right out of the box on
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: that ground out. So, you know, that would be disappointing
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: for them because he's been one of their kind of
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: bright spots and he's been fun and, you know, capable and,
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: you know, especially his shortstop play has been fun to watch.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: He had an error last night and, and, I just,
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: you know, any lost time at the major league level
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: where he could basically do it, and of course there's
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: a record of it, but you're also not in a
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: spot where you're playing at this point for a playoff spot,
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: as much as you two want that to happen. But
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: they're not rolling off 11 in a row, guys. Just
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: get it through your heads. It's fine.
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: It's okay.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: It could happen. Okay. Okay.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: It could happen. I don't think it'll be enough.
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: At this point, but it could.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: Happen. But yeah, like I think he, you know, it
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: didn't sound promising and I would think they would caution
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: against further injury by rushing him back. So we'll see.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: But it certainly did not, it sounded discouraging as of
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: last night.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: I don't know if it's because he's been up the
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: longest of the three rookies or just because of the
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: magnitude of Jenkins' struggles or the splash that Rodriguez has made,
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: which we'll get to in a minute. But like, dude
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: is on, Culpepper, that is, like, he's on pace to
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: be a three-war player over a full season.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: 275.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: He's been so solid and it kind of like further
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: highlights what's going on with Jenkins, I guess, in a way, Tyler,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: but it's kind of, obviously there's been some hiccups in
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: the field and, you know, it hasn't all been smooth,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: but that's a dang impressive 31 games. If that's, if
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: that's it for him this season.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: And to Dan's point, there's 11 games left.
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: Like you're not pushing anything because what will happen next
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: is something major, you know, whereas if it's a strain
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: or a slight, you know, grade one kind of tear thing, um,
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: get home, you know, rest up, get some recovery for
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: the season ends and give it a couple of weeks
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: and you'll be good to go. But yeah, it's, it
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: is one, it's tough and, They actually, they were, Mourney
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: was talking about, like, when he and Joe got called
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: up pretty close together.
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: And, you know, Joe obviously became who he was.
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: And it's good for those guys to be around each
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: other while this is happening, regardless of who's struggling or
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: doing well.
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: It pushes each other.
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: And, you know, when Culpepper got to go up first, those,
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: you know, Emma and Jenkins were probably like, I want
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: that to be me.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: And so they throttled up their games.
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: And now they're all there together, and now they're throttling
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: each other up, and that's part of the beauty of
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: our game. It's, that can happen just, you know, just
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: being friends and teammates in the same locker room.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: You're still competing against each.
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: Other at the end of the day, because you want
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: to be better than your buddy. You want to be
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: able to talk crap to him and, you know, say, hey,
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: did you see what I did today? You know, it
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: happened with me and all the guys in the bullpen.
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: You know, Raj and I used to be, we were
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: starters together all through the minors, and you you push
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: each other. One guy goes six. Well, I want to
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: go seven now, or he punched out eight.
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: I want nine.
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: You know, it's, that's part of the camaraderie that builds
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: over a season and over years together as teammates. And
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: they're starting that foundation now, regardless of results today. You know,
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: it's like I said, there's so many valuable parts of
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: them being in the big.
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: Leagues together right now.
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: And even in this scenario where now I, frankly, the
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: pressure's off as far as, you know, winning goes now
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: it's just go play baseball and, and, and have some
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: fun doing it. And, you know, Rodriguez for that matter
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: is having a hell of a time. You know, he,
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: he looks like a fish to water. Uh, you know, he's,
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: he's probably been electric and Walker hasn't. And, you know,
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: it's just, that's part of the game and that's part
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: of learning yourself and figuring out the big leagues.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: It's been so, uh, just refreshing watching Rodriguez, like the
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: emotion he's brought, he was pumped up again after his
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: two run triple, like, there's just been so little of
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: that in this second half swoon, which of course, when you,
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: when you suck, like you're not going to have a
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: lot to get excited about. I get that. But, um,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: he's just wearing it on his sleeve. He's making plays
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: on defense. And if you want to, since we're talking about, uh,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: wins above replacement pace, he's on a 20 war pace for,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: for a full year after, after four games. But, uh,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: obviously Dan, right. Obviously it's sustainable. Yeah.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Let's just– I'll make that the headline of this episode.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Emmanuel Rodriguez will be a 20-war player. Like four games, obviously,
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: everybody can probably find a four-game stretch in their career
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: where they look that good. But couldn't ask for a
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: better start for sure, Dan.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: I liked that it was Max Fried last night. I
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: did the math afterwards and looked it up because I
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: think Shelton said it was like a 350 OPS against lefties.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: It wasn't that bad. But Max Fried went into last
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: night with a 3-9-7 OPS against left-handed hitters this year.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: And it was like 90 plate appearances. So he has
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: dominated them. And Cody Clemens got the late triple. And
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: their two lefties went three for seven. And depending on
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: umpire calls, maybe four for seven with a home run. Yeah. wow,
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: that was a bad call. That was holy shit level bad.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: I could see it from like a blind eye, like
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: just naked eye, like looking down the, it was like,
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: that was foul. And they let him run around and Shelton,
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: maybe it was to get him, give Emmanuel time to
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: collect himself afterwards. Um, as he went into the dugout,
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: who knows, but Shelton gets ejected. Um, but like, he's
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: still like, okay, take that away. He's still singled and
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: doubled off freed. And, um, I really liked, the single,
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: because he got down one, two, he chased, I think
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: it was a sweeper away. It was, it was off
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: speed away. And it was a, you know, a good
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: couple inches off the plate and then freed through him
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: two more, same exact pitch. And he didn't chase either
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: one and he got it. He evened the count and
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: they singled up the middle for a base, like a
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: game tying hit. And You know, that's when the game
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: was still there. You know, it was made it one
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: to one at that point or two to one at
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: that point. I'm sorry.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: But that's part of it, right? Like, like, you know,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: people used to rag on ASL. rod for hitting homers
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: when the Yankees were either up or down 10 to one. Like,
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: like not only is he getting the hits, he's getting
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: them when it, at least that points in the game
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: when it still feels huge, even if it ends up
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: being a blowout. That's great.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: I mean, like that's a tough, that's about as tough
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: of a test as a lefty you're going to face
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: right there. That guy's just dominating lefties. The Twins brought
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: Freed's OPS against lefties up by 60 points last night
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: because Cody Clemens tripled also. But Rodriguez, he looks like
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: he has a good idea. He's got such a crazy
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: skill set. He is a typical three-outcome player. He's a walk, strikeout,
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: home run guy, although he's shown more than that so far.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: And he's– like as Shelton said, or maybe it was Zol,
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: way more athletic than your typical– your prototypical three-outcome guy.
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: He's 14.
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: Right? He's fast. He's athletic. I love what I saw
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: in the field, that sliding catch in left field there
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: tonight up against the wall.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: Like you just see– you see so much. And it's
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: funny because you made the mention earlier, Zach, of like
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: you don't know how many at-bats Walker Jenkins had in
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: his first training. If you remember, Walker Jenkins had a
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: hamstring injury. He played four games and they had a
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: hamstring injury. So Shelton really hasn't had a good look
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: at him at all. Meanwhile, Rodriguez was around most of
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: the spring. And Rodriguez was so close to getting the
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: call earlier. We talked to Jeremy Zoll about that. It
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: was part of the conversation. And then he got hurt
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: sliding into the bag and it cost him almost three
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: months and Yada, yada, yada. Twins way right there. Their
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: top prospect is on the verge of getting called up.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: Slides into first base. Tears his thumb. Yeah, but we
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: finally get to see it, and it's really living up
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: to the billing. I love the energy. There are three guys.
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: All three of these guys can talk. I know this sounds–
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: for media, this is very selfish, but from media perspective,
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: all three of them can talk. All three of them
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: are confident. All three of them are opinionated. And when
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: you see the three of them and how they act
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: in the clubhouse, and when you see what their, their
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: skill sets do, there's a lot of reason to buy
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: into these guys being real dudes for the twins going forward.
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: And it's, you know, it's, it's nice to see that
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: because that next wave is here and they're all varying
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: levels because the injuries have kept Emma and, and Jenkins
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: off the field. Culpepper played college and he looks the
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: most experienced of the bunch because of those extra three
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: years of baseball. But I mean, there's just, there's a
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: lot to like out of this, this trio.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: The, the energy is so great. And like, maybe part
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: of it is this is all new and exciting and
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: he's young and like, what a great start. But like, I,
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: I was the type of player, again, to remind everybody,
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: I didn't quite get as far as Tyler, that like
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: I could make the most amazing play, crush a home run.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: And I was just like head down, like doing my job,
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: everybody else hollering around me. And I'm just like, thank you.
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: Thank you. But like Tyler, how infectious is that in
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: a clubhouse to have a guy who can kind of
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: put you on their back emotionally and also with his play?
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: It's fun. It's fun.
• 33:09
  Speaker 4: And I, we've kind of talked about that off air
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: a couple of times. Like, You know, the twins have
• 33:13
  Speaker 4: this gritty feel to them. They don't have the loud, you.
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: Know, the guys.
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: You know, we've had our bat flips and things like
• 33:22
  Speaker 4: that in moments. You know, guys have picked their spots.
• 33:25
  Speaker 4: But that guy that every day it's like, what are
• 33:28
  Speaker 4: they going to do? You know, Byron is obviously him,
• 33:31
  Speaker 4: but he's not loud. He's not the boisterous type. He's
• 33:34
  Speaker 4: going to, you know, do his thing, but everyone's fired
• 33:36
  Speaker 4: up for him, kind of like you were mentioning. And
• 33:39
  Speaker 4: these guys, you know, like Dan said, like they've got
• 33:42
  Speaker 4: some opinions, they're confident, you know, they're, they're excited to
• 33:45
  Speaker 4: be here. And, and that's a great thing to have.
• 33:48
  Speaker 4: Those guys can feed off each other. They can start
• 33:50
  Speaker 4: battling each other, you know, and then it's, it's, it's
• 33:53
  Speaker 4: when it just continues to grow as these guys get
• 33:55
  Speaker 4: better and become who they are going to be as
• 33:58
  Speaker 4: big leaguers. And it's, it's energy that fills a locker room.
• 34:02
  Speaker 4: It seeps over into that other clubhouse when they come
• 34:05
  Speaker 4: in for a series where it's like, oh man, you know, this,
• 34:07
  Speaker 4: three-headed monster of these guys are.
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: Here, you know, whatever it is. And, you know, we
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: see with other teams.
• 34:12
  Speaker 4: That have that guy in their order or their pitcher
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: or whoever it may be that just brings that different
• 34:18
  Speaker 4: vibe when they're on the field.
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: And these guys can do that.
• 34:22
  Speaker 4: You know, they have an opportunity right now to get
• 34:24
  Speaker 4: their feet solidly under them to finish this year. You know,
• 34:27
  Speaker 4: obviously Culpepper's not going to be able to do that,
• 34:29
  Speaker 4: but Rodriguez is showing signs early of being that superstar guy.
• 34:33
  Speaker 4: that sets the tone for a season, for a team, franchise,
• 34:37
  Speaker 4: whatever you want to call it. He's got the right energy.
• 34:41
  Speaker 4: We've got guys like Royce who they want it so
• 34:43
  Speaker 4: badly to be that guy, and they've had moments. And
• 34:46
  Speaker 4: you just hope maybe these guys can be some glue
• 34:49
  Speaker 4: that brings all this group together and tighter.
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: You never know what can happen. It's 162 games. It's
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: a long season.
• 34:58
  Speaker 4: But it has been fun to see the proverbial shot
• 35:02
  Speaker 4: in the arm even though it might be a little
• 35:04
  Speaker 4: too late.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: Probably a little too late, but the Twins will play
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: it out. 11 games to go. It starts this afternoon,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: the finale against the Yankees. It's Zebby Matthews and Carlos Rodon,
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: and then they're off to Anaheim for the last road
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: trip of the season. Thursday is Taj Bradley against Walbert
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: Ureña of the Angels.
• 35:24
  Speaker 3: Fighting Suzuki.
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: Pretty nice ERA for him, despite the Angels' struggles, 2.88.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: We'll be back with you on Friday. Here on Twin
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: Cities Territory, we appreciate everybody listening. If you like what
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: you hear, please toss us a like, a subscribe, however
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: you watch or listen. QR code on the screen right
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: there for you if you're on YouTube. We'll see you
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: on Friday. Thanks, everybody. Have a good couple of days. Bye-bye.