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<\/p>\nOn July 11, 2023, Bryce Jenkins was faced with a choice: Does he sign with the New York Mets, or does he return to the University of Tennessee?\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was tough,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cI went back and forth, even throughout the whole draft process, back and forth.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
The Tennessee Volunteers hold special meaning for Jenkins, a Knoxville kid. The Vols were his favorite team growing up, and he would go to baseball games at Lindsey Nelson Stadium as a kid.\n<\/p>\n
He had season tickets for Tennessee football. He was at the double-overtime game in 2015 when Baker Mayfield and the Oklahoma Sooners came to town, which he described as the best and the loudest football game he\u2019s ever been at. Longtime New York Giant Sterling Shepard caught the winning touchdown pass in that game, by the way.\n<\/p>\n
He was in the stadium as a student in 2022 when Tennessee knocked off Alabama 52-49 on a walk-off field goal. He stormed the field as others\u2014not him\u2014tore down the goalposts. He did get to touch it as it made its way out of the stadium, though. He was a diehard, through and through.\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Bryce Jenkins. Photo by Matt Kipp \/ Brooklyn Cyclones.<\/p>\n
Jenkins didn\u2019t start his college career at Tennessee. Leaving high school, he was actually committed to Murray State University, a DI program. However, after some discussion, he decided to go the junior college route instead. This was at a time when transferring wasn\u2019t as easy as it is now, so he would have essentially been locking himself into Murray State. By going to a JUCO first, he would be guaranteed an opportunity to transfer to a bigger school after two seasons.\n<\/p>\n
With his eyes set on Tennessee, Jenkins began his college career at Cleveland State Community College in Cleveland, Tennessee. He was playing his games a little over an hour away from Lindsey Nelson Stadium.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing in, playing right away\u2014I actually played outfield and pitched, so I was on the field all the time\u2014just gave me the opportunity to show my skills for the next level,\u201d Jenkins said.\n<\/p>\n
He had a successful three seasons for Cleveland State\u2014it ended up being three because of the impact COVID-19 had on the 2020 season\u2014where he was used primarily as a starter when pitching. He even threw a handful of complete games along the way.\n<\/p>\n
After his third year, he attended a showcase for all the JUCO teams in the area, held at Lipscomb University in Nashville. Tennessee saw him there and offered him. He said he wanted to commit on the spot, but gave it 24 hours before making it official.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody knew I wanted to go there; everybody was pumped for me,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cUs being a JUCO in Tennessee, that\u2019s the big school. Being from Knoxville, I had a lot of high school teammates I played with on that team, so everyone was pumped, super excited.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Then it was time for his homecoming. Jenkins can still remember the first time he put on that Tennessee Volunteer uniform. At least, somewhat.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of nerves,\u201d he said. \u201cThe first time I pitched, couldn\u2019t tell you what happened. Kind of blacked out out there, didn\u2019t really feel much going on. But got through it, and then kind of settled in, and just took it all in.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
He shortened up big time with Tennessee, going from the rotation to the bullpen. The days of throwing complete games were in the past. When starting, the job is to set the tone. When relieving, the job is to get the couple of guys you need to and get it. It\u2019s much more of an adrenaline rush, he said.\n<\/p>\n
Following his first year at Tennessee, Jenkins was selected by the Mets with the 516th overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft. With one more year of eligibility remaining, he could have returned to Tennessee and pitched another season for his favorite team. Once you leave college, you can\u2019t go back. Pro ball would still be there next year, but there\u2019s also no guarantee the opportunity would present itself again as a 17th-round reliever who would be one year older.\n<\/p>\n
He had to make the choice.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew getting into the Mets\u2019 system, when they called me, they talked about this development and that development and what they\u2019d help me with, and it just seemed like it was time to go,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cGod had a plan, and it was time to get into pro ball.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Jenkins threw a handful of games in rookie ball and Single-A to finish 2023 and was lined up for his first full season of pro ball in 2024. Then, at the end of spring training\u2014about three days before he was supposed to head to Brooklyn\u2014he got hurt.\n<\/p>\n
He said he went through his normal throwing and lifting routine and felt good, but woke up with forearm tightness the next day. After getting an MRI and trying to build it back up to no success, they decided he needed to undergo Tommy John surgery.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest thing was trying to take the positive outlook on it,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cMost of the time in baseball, it\u2019s a full year run. You don\u2019t get a full year to just develop your skills, get stronger, all that stuff. So right away, I just took it in. I\u2019m gonna work out, I\u2019m gonna train, learn that new slider again, keep developing that, and then just keep going from there.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
In the first six months post-TJ, you don\u2019t get to pick up a baseball. For the first few weeks, he could barely even walk because his UCL was replaced by a tendon from his hamstring.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\u201cYou try to figure out who you are again,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cYou look forward to throwing every day, seeing how you\u2019re feeling, but when you\u2019re not throwing, it\u2019s just like, what do I do?\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Instead, he did weight training and recovery. Once those six months were up, he said, time flew by. Throw at 60 feet. Throw at 90 feet. Throw at 120 feet. Bullpens. Live looks.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore you blink, it\u2019s over,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
Six-hundred and fifty-seven days after he threw his final pitch in a game in 2023, Jenkins stepped back onto a mound for live, in-game action. He appeared in 11 games between rookie ball and Single-A to end 2025.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
He went to pitch in the Arizona Fall League following the season. There, he had 2026 AL Rookie of the Year frontrunner Kevin McGonigle playing shortstop behind him and had former Cyclones Nick Morabito, Chris Suero, John Bay and D\u2019Andre Smith on the roster with him. He struggled with his control a bit both to end the regular season and in Arizona, which is common for pitchers coming off of an injury like his.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was able to compete, but not at his best,\u201d Cyclones pitching coach Luis Alvarado, who was Jenkins\u2019 pitching coach last year in Single-A, said. \u201cIt\u2019s understandable, coming back from so many years away from the game, and now, after putting that year under his belt, coming in to Brooklyn and being able to get more exposure \u2026 we\u2019re giving him the chance to pitch and he\u2019s executing.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Jenkins was assigned to Brooklyn to begin 2026, and he\u2019s been stellar for the Cyclones. In 30 appearances, he\u2019s posted a 2.09\u00a0 ERA with 43 strikeouts and 15 walks over 38 and 2\/3\u00a0 innings. A lot of the success has been thanks to his new slider.\n<\/p>\n
It in the Fall League, with former Brooklyn Cyclones pitching coach and current New York Mets assistant pitching coach Dan McKinney, where he really hammered down the pitch. It\u2019s a shorter, harder one to pair with the heater and the bigger, slurve-like slider he\u2019s always had.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
The new slider has been a huge addition, and he\u2019s using it to both get ahead in the count and put hitters away.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really been my most confident pitch to go to in any situation, which is huge because having the fastball and the big breaking ball, it\u2019s easier for the hitters to tell them apart,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cSo having that little middle pitch, it\u2019s helped me a lot.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
The new slider generally sits in the high-80s, but Alvarado said he\u2019s seen him flash it at 90-91 mph. It is a true slider, too, not a cutter. He generally sits 93-94 mph on his fastball and tops out at 96 with induced vertical break up to the 18 to 20 inch range. He also has a changeup in development, but it\u2019s not in use yet.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a good overall arsenal for a relief pitcher\u2014especially if he can figure out the changeup\u2014but the slider is the star.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI always tell him he has big-league stuff, from the fastball to the slider,\u201d Alvarado said. \u201cI think it\u2019s one of the best sliders in the league.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On July 11, 2023, Bryce Jenkins was faced with a choice: Does he sign with the New York…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-310703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}