The Cardinals organization has made it very clear that the club plans on taking baby steps when it comes to their supplemental first-rounder Tyrell Jenkins, and one of those steps was made Monday night in Johnson City.

Jenkins is a 18-year-old right-hander out of Henderson HS in Texas. He’s 6’4″, a very tall, lengthy kid with tremendous upside. He was taken 50th overall by the Cardinals but some scouts had him in the top-25.

Jenkins was also a football and track star in high school, and was considered by some to be the most athletic pitcher in the draft. The young fireballer was actually set to attend Baylor where he would probably start as their quarterback after Robert Griffin was through with his stint with the Bears.

The delivery certainly needs refined. That is the only major flaw I can identify. Like most young pitchers, his follow-through and foot placement after the pitch are different from pitch to pitch. It’s not a glaring problem or a red flag of any kind, because it can easily be fixed, but it is noteworthy. The other thing I noticed when looking at video was the length of his arm. He’s 6’4″ so of course he has long arms, but it’s the way he “whips” his right arm while throwing that caught my eye. He is very raw and has a few small mechanical issues, but that should be taking care of quickly now that he has the right coaches.

His fastball hovers around 90-92, but he has hit 96-97 several times over the summer. Jenkins also has a curve that he throws in the mid-70′s, a slider in the low-80′s, and an average changeup in his repertoire. Again, he is about as raw as they come, but certainly has all the tools. Jenkins will continue to improve his secondary stuff (much like Shelby Miller has done this season), and when that happens look for him to start making his way toward the big leagues.

The other thing to think about when evaluating Tyrell is that he has always had to make time for three different sports. What’s going to happen now that baseball is his only focus?

The newest Cardinal prospect to make my top-20 made his first professional start last Thursday. The Cardinals have him on a very strict pitch count, so he only pitched one inning. Let’s just say they are using this time to ”get his feet wet”. In that scoreless inning Jenkins struck out one and walked none.

Last night, in Tyrell’s second professional start, he seemed to be just as good as advertised. In his two innings of work Jenkins struck out one, allowed no runs, two hits, and two walks. His control was a bit off (26 pitches/13 strikes), but a lot of that could have been nerves. His control was the main concern on Monday, and it had been before that start. But at 17-years-old, I’ll take the control problems. He has plenty of time to figure the flaws out. This was a GREAT selection by the Cardinals, and Jenkins will prove that to everyone in the years to come.