Twins select high school slugger Walker Jenkins with 5th overall pick in MLB Draft
The Minnesota Twins added some power and another arm to their organization on Sunday night as they selected high school outfielder Walker Jenkins with the fifth overall pick and Florida high school pitcher Charlee Soto with the 34th overall pick in the MLB Draft.
Jenkins comes out of Brunswick, North Carolina and is ranked fourth on MLB.com's top prospect list for this year's draft. His scouting report dubbed him as the best prep position prospect to come out of the state since Josh Hamilton went No. 1 overall (Tampa Bay) in 1999 and he was Gatorade's North Carolina Player of the Year in 2022 and 2023 thanks to his tremendous power at the plate.
The Athletic's Keith Law also ranked Jenkins fifth on his top 100 prospects list citing his 6-foot-3, 205-pound frame and 30-homer potential as a hitter.
"He looks the part of a top-of-the-draft hitter," Law wrote. "...[He's] lean and athletic and twitchy, but with lots of room to add 20-25 pounds. ...He's a left-handed hitter with a great swing that's boosted by his outstanding bat control, allowing him to adjust more than most teenagers can and once he fills out, he'll probably have 30-homer power. ...He looks like he'll hit like an All-Star right fielder and maybe the [North Carolina] commit will end up staying in center too."
Jenkins dealt with a broken hamate bone in the summer of 2022 but it didn't stop him from rebounding for a strong senior season. While the Twins have a history of selecting collegiate players under Derek Falvey and Thad Levine, Jenkins' upside was too much to pass up in a draft that was billed with five players that could go No. 1 overall in a different year.
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Later in the night, the Twins turned their attention to the mound by selecting Soto, a high school pitcher out of Reborn Christian Academy in Florida.
At 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds, Soto was initially a shortstop before outgrowing the position. His strength is a fastball that sits in the high 90s and flirts with 100 mph at times but he also has a hard slider and a splitter that made him the No. 28 prospect on MLB.com's top prospect list.
"With a very quick arm, the Central Florida recruit throws everything hard, all from a prototypical starting pitcher's frame, while showing off solid command," MLB.com wrote. The Florida prepster's name is still coming up in conversations about the high school pitchers in the class with a strong spring."
Law agreed with that assessment, ranking him as the 31st prospect despite being one of the youngest players in the draft at 17 years old.
"Soto has some of the best pure stuff in this class...along with a delivery he should be able to repeat for command," Law wrote. "...He's as risky as any high school arm, but this stuff rivals [fellow prospect Thomas White] for the best among all prep pitchers this year."
The Pittsburgh Pirates led off Sunday's draft by selecting LSU pitcher Paul Skenes and the Tigers doubled up as outfielder Dylan Crews was selected with the second overall pick by the Washington Nationals.
Franklin (Ind.) outfielder Max Clark was selected with the third overall pick by the Detroit Tigers and Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford was selected by the Texas Rangers at No. 4.
