Walker Jenkins

Jenkins was arguably the top pre-draft prep hitter and clearly the top prep prospect from the 2023 class after most had a chance to make their pro debuts. As is typically the case with elite high school hitters, Jenkins went to his team's complex league after signing and then got a taste of Single-A to close the season. Usually, even the best such hitters will show some minor weakness at one of the two stops. Jackson Holliday eviscerated complex-league pitching and while he walked over a quarter of the time, he didn't hit for power at Single-A. Royce Lewis saw a similar power dip at Single-A. Kyle Tucker and Bobby Witt didn't even force a promotion to Single-A the years they were drafted. Jenkins showed zero weaknesses at either stop, and in fact upped his batting average (.333 to .392), OBP (.390 to .446) and SLG (.537 to .608) while cutting his K% from 13.6 to 10.7 after the jump to Single-A. Dylan Crews, the No. 2 overall pick in 2023 and three years older than Jenkins, did similar damage at Single-A (182 wRC+ for Jenkins, 192 wRC+ for Crews), but the elder Crews struck out at almost three times (26.8 K%) Walker's clip. Obviously a 26-game sample against low-level pitching that includes a .432 BABIP at Single-A doesn't mean Jenkins will be a future first-round pick in fantasy, but he seems like as safe a bet as we've seen from the prep ranks to be an excellent big-league hitter. The chiseled and athletic 6-foot-3, 210-pound lefty-hitting outfielder has a chance for plus or better tools across the board.