UNC Baseball: Walker Jenkins inks deal with Twins
Just before the deadline to sign, former UNC baseball commit Walker Jenkins agreed to a deal with the Minnesota Twins organization.
It certainly came down to the wire, but the deal is officially done.
No. 5 overall pick Walker Jenkins signs w/@Twins for $7,144,200 (pick value = $7,139,700). Best North Carolina prep prospect since Josh Hamilton in 1999, big lefty power to all fields, sweet swing, solid runner w/chance to play CF, great makeup. North Carolina recruit. @MLBDraft pic.twitter.com/zbDcS9lJAl
— Jim Callis (@jimcallisMLB) July 25, 2023
As expected, former UNC baseball commit Walker Jenkins agreed to a contract with the Minnesota Twins. Jenkins was selected with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft by the Twins organization.
It took up until the day of the deadline to get a deal done, but the two sides got it done just in the nick of time. Jenkins will earn $7,144,200, which is slightly above the pick value of $7,139,700. In fact, this number figure sets a new record for the most upfront money ever given to any No. 5 overall pick.
The longer a deal wasn’t agreed upon, the more interesting this situation got for the UNC baseball program. If a deal wasn’t reached prior to the deadline, Jenkins would’ve been heading to Chapel Hill to play college baseball. He also would have been forced to stay in college for three seasons, which is certainly a risk given the amount of money he would have passed up by not signing.
Although it would have been nice to see Jenkins patrol the outfield with Vance Honeycutt, it unfortunately won’t happen, as Jenkins is Minnesota bound to begin his big-league career, which was seemingly always the likely outcome.
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