Cardinals pitching prospect Tyrell Jenkins makes his Arizona Fall League debut

While the big league Cardinals made final preparations for their National League Championship Series matchup with the Giants, future Redbird Tyrell Jenkins found himself making his Arizona Fall League debut with the Peoria Javelinas yesterday afternoon. If one were to look only at the outcome of the game (Peoria lost 12-2 to the Salt River Rafters), one would believe that Jenkins had a tough day on the mound. Fortunately, this was not the case as Jenkins pitched four scoreless innings, allowed four hits, struck out four, and walked zero.

ESPN's Keith Law gave us insight on Jenkins's velocity in the first inning:

Cards RHP @TyrellJenkins14 92-96 in the first. Gave up a hard single to Eddie Rosario on a 95 mph FB

— keithlaw (@keithlaw) October 10, 2014

MiLB.com writer Sam Dykstra told us about Jenkins's strikeout of Twins top prospect Byron Buxton:

Buxton got caught swinging and missing at an 83 mph curveball from Tyrell Jenkins to K in his first AB. #Twins #STLCards

— Sam Dykstra (@SamDykstraMiLB) October 10, 2014

I communicated with Tyrell after his outing, and I specifically asked him to take me through his strikeout of Buxton. This is what he had to say:

- 1st pitch: fourseamer high for a ball (1-0)

- 2nd pitch: twoseamer down and in for a called strike (1-1)

- 3rd pitch: fourseamer away fouled off down the line (1-2)

- 4th pitch: curveball (12-6 variety) down that was also fouled off (1-2)

- 5th pitch: curveball (with slurve spin for a different look) down and away for swinging strike three (K)

On what his stuff felt like in his first live action in a while:

"My best pitch was the twoseamer. I threw it all day down and in to righties and away to lefties. I was able to touch 97 with it. I only elevated the fourseamer on occasion because everything was down [in the zone] today. The changeup was there whenever I needed it, and the curveball served as my put-away pitch today."

On if he found himself in any jams during the outing:

"Eh. Two singles to lead off the third inning. I got Buxton to fly out which moved the runner to third with one out, but then I got a double-play ball to end the inning. Other than that, it was all pretty smooth."

This is a great start to the Arizona Fall League for Jenkins. We saw a worrisome velocity drop from Jenkins at the tail-end of the minor league season, but it appears he is currently "all systems go" as he is lifting weights and throwing on a regular basis. Barring anything unforeseen popping up, Jenkins will likely start the 2015 season with the Double-A Springfield Cardinals. On numerous occasions, he has told me that he has "big plans" for next season, and we all should be excited about the future of the flame-throwing righty.

Of course, I had to include this tweet from fellow pitching prospect Rob Kaminsky:

My man @TyrellJenkins14 absolutely DEALT today!!! Much love brotha! #97

— Rob Kaminsky (@Kaminsky21) October 10, 2014