Twins Minor League Report (9/3): Aaron Sabato Goes Berzerk

[Matt Braun]

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson (photo of Aaron Sabato)

TRANSACTIONS
RHP David Festa returned to Minnesota Twins (and subsequently likely ruled out for 2025)

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 5, Louisville 6 (10 Innings)
Box Score
SP: Andrew Morris: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
HR: Jonah Bride (3), Aaron Sabato 2 (11, 12)
Multi-hit games: Gabriel Gonzalez (2-for-5, R), Aaron Sabato (3-for-5, 2 HR, 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI)

The Saints fell in extras on Wednesday.

Andrew Morris continues to excel in his return to the pitching mound. Across his last 16 frames, the righty has allowed five earned runs and just nine hits while striking out 21. The recent run starting on August 9th lowered his season ERA from 4.41 to 4.08, and his WHIP has fallen similarly; down to 1.41 from the heights of 1.61. Wednesday was more of the same—and his five-inning start was the longest since the injury.

The “Marco Raya in relief” experiment reached its zenith, as the 23-year-old dominated, tossing three shutout innings with five strikeouts. The secret? A sweeper that earned nine swings-and-misses across 18 offerings. Now that’s dastardly. 

Aaron Sabato provided the thump. Lots of it. The first of his blasts was the most majestic: a 435-foot shot to dead center that could have busted the batter’s eye. The second was a more humble 383-footer sent the other way. He also doubled. 

Big leaguer rehabber, Tyler Stephenson, caught and homered for the Bats.

Outfielder Héctor Rodríguez is ranked as the ninth-best prospect in the Reds’ system. He singled twice in two at-bats for Louisville.

Wind Surge Wisdom

The Wind Surge were postponed due to inclement weather. They will play a doubleheader on September 4th.

Kernels Nuggets
Cedar Rapids 0, Quad Cities 4
Box Score
SP: Garrett Horn: 1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: None

The Kernels were shut out on Wednesday.

Frankly, this was a dull game for our protagonists. They collected three hits—the full extent of their offensive potency—and allowed a cromulent but unnotable amount of runs. Spencer Bengard was the player of the game with four shutout innings out of the bullpen, striking out five. That’s about it.

MLB’s 48th overall prospect, catcher Blake Mitchell, went 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.

Mussel Matters
Fort Myers 3, St. Lucie 2 
Box Score 
SP: Eli Jones: 5 ⅔ IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: None

The Mighty Mussels won on a walk-off on Wednesday. 

Eli Jones stole the show. The 2024 seventh-rounder out of South Carolina put forth one of his best starts of the year, holding the Mets scoreless for 94 pitches across 5 2/3 innings. It wasn’t easy; St. Lucie knocked him for five hits and stole just as many bases. The righty hunkered down. Wasn’t shaken. Remained like iron in his will. And he walked off the mound with a clean slate.

The Mighty Mussels attacked when they could, scoring one in the first on a Quentin Young sacrifice fly, and another in the third with a Dameury Pena RBI single. 

Speeding up to the ninth, Fort Myers loaded the bases for Young to potentially send his team home happy. The youngster hit a soft line drive the drawn-in second baseman could not corral, necessitating Ryan Sprock to suddenly begin dashing home. The throw beat him. The catcher’s foot? Perhaps an inch off the plate. The home plate umpire saw it all the way and called the surprised Sprock safe, ushering in a celebration as confused and tepid as the walk-off itself.

The Mighty Mussels Twitter account didn’t post the play, but if you have access to minor league streaming, do look it up. It’s bizarre. 

Rehabbing big leaguer Emmanuel Rodriguez played center field for seven innings, reached base twice, and stole a base. 

The Mets claim a great variety of talent in their farm system, and their best prospect in this game was second baseman Mitch Voit, ranked as their ninth-best prospect. He singled twice in five at-bats. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Eli Jones
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Aaron Sabato

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:
#1 – Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 1-4, 2B, RBI, BB, K
#2 – Luke Keaschall (Twins) - 1-4, 2B, R, RBI, BB
#4 – Emmanuel Rodriguez (Fort Myers) - 1-3, 2 R, BB, K
#5 – Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4, 2 K
#11 – Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 2-5, R, 2 K
#12 – Marco Raya (St. Paul) - 3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
#13 – Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 0-2
#14 – Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-3, BB, 2 K
#15 – Andrew Morris (St. Paul) - 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
#17 – Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4, K

THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Louisville (5:35 PM) - RHP John Klein
Tulsa @ Wichita (7:05 PM) - RHP C.J. Culpepper
Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:30 PM) - RHP Adrian Bohorquez
St. Lucie @ Fort Myers (6:05 PM) - RHP Christian Becerra

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[tony&rodney]

Marco Raya was fantastic for 3 innings and 40 pitches. I wondered why he was pulled? Surely Raya could have thrown another inning. This must have been something designed pre-game to get Baker an inning.

Morris made one bad pitch. He was good. 

[Matt Braun]

Gave the Beatles White Album a play while writing this one. Not my favorite from them, but it’s definitely incomparable and diverse, even if it does run a little long. 

[HrbieFan]

Bring up Sabato for a cup of coffee! Joulien does nothing for me 

[bunsen82]

Sabato similarly to Fedko (not to the same level)  may be forcing the Twins to consider to keep them in their future plans and possibly use a 40 man designation after the season.  1st base currently has Clemens and  . . . .     They are talking about also trying Mendez out there. Sabato has had very good contact rates for the majority of the year and the power is starting to show up.  21 home runs.  This may be a flash in the pan as he has not done this well at any other level.  Similar to Holland last year.   Due to a lack of options, the Twins may be willing to give him a shot to start the year next year.  See if a flash in the pan or true improvements.  

[Nshore]

58 minutes ago, HrbieFan said:

Bring up Sabato for a cup of coffee! Joulien does nothing for me 

It's a mystery to me why the Twins aren't taking this opportunity to take a look at guys like Sabato and Fedko and others who are doing well.  But then again I'm not a baseball genius like Falvey.  The Twins' one and only priority must be to tank these last games.

[Jeff K]

9 hours ago, Matt Braun said:

Gave the Beatles White Album a play while writing this one. Not my favorite from them, but it’s definitely incomparable and diverse, even if it does run a little long. 

...#9

[rdehring]

See Jenkins was the DH last night.  Nice 1-4 with a walk and one K after his 3 hit night.  And that hit was a double.  He has struck out only 7 times in 35 plate appearances.  That combined with five walks seems to indicate he is the same hitter in AAA as at the lower levels.  Expect he has settled in and will have a nice finish to his season.

[AJray15]

9 hours ago, Matt Braun said:

Gave the Beatles White Album a play while writing this one. Not my favorite from them, but it’s definitely incomparable and diverse, even if it does run a little long. 

Take this Minor League Report brother, may it serve you well.

[bunsen82]

25 minutes ago, Nshore said:

It's a mystery to me why the Twins aren't taking this opportunity to take a look at guys like Sabato and Fedko and others who are doing well.  But then again I'm not a baseball genius like Falvey.  The Twins' one and only priority must be to tank these last games.

They don't want to win in the next 25+ games . . . They may try a few Sept 15th or on.   They are currently at the 2nd best odds in the lottery for next year.  20% for 1st pick -  60% of first 3 picks, and virtually guaranteed a top 5 pick if things remain the same.  

[HrbieFan]

45 minutes ago, Nshore said:

It's a mystery to me why the Twins aren't taking this opportunity to take a look at guys like Sabato and Fedko and others who are doing well.  But then again I'm not a baseball genius like Falvey.  The Twins' one and only priority must be to tank these last games.

Their amazing bullpen is doing a fabulous job of helping get that #1 pick

[Matt Braun]

1 hour ago, HrbieFan said:

Bring up Sabato for a cup of coffee! Joulien does nothing for me 

For better or for worse, it seems that the Twins under this regime are rigid with their internal evaluations and don’t tend to give chances to a hot bat unless they’re a legit prospect. I’d be shocked if Sabato came up this year unless injuries start to pile up. 

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, HrbieFan said:

Bring up Sabato for a cup of coffee! Joulien does nothing for me 

Everyone should be promoted when they have a good game and demoted when they go 0 for 4.

[DJL44]

Quote

Rehabbing big leaguer Emmanuel Rodriguez played center field for seven innings, reached base twice, and stole a base. 

Still hopeful that Rodriguez can get some big league games this September.

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, Nshore said:

It's a mystery to me why the Twins aren't taking this opportunity to take a look at guys like Sabato and Fedko and others who are doing well.  But then again I'm not a baseball genius like Falvey.  The Twins' one and only priority must be to tank these last games.

Because Sabato hasn't been that good since coming up to AAA? The recent explosion is great, and what we want to see from him, but the .305 OBP is not good enough at all. He's shown a significant dip in production since moving up to AAA including a decent slump. AAA is the right place for him to be showing whether or not he's earned another promotion. They're not going to cut Clemens (even though they should move on from him in the offseason) and they should be seeing whether or not Julien has a chance to be at 1B and give him enough games now (when it doesn't matter) to determine his fate.

Fedko has been great since getting called up to AAA, but it's been only 26 games and this is the first time in his career he hasn't struggled upon promotion. It's not crazy to think that he's better off getting regular PT through the end of the season and proving that he belongs while the team is making decisions on guys like Outman and Larnach in the OF for next season. Sure, you could have promoted him instead of Keirsey, but a cup of coffee for Fedko in MLB in September won't tell us much.

What's the point in adding either of those guys to the 40-man so you can add them to the (now) 28-man for 3+ weeks?

[NYCTK]

24 minutes ago, Matt Braun said:

For better or for worse, it seems that the Twins under this regime are rigid with their internal evaluations and don’t tend to give chances to a hot bat unless they’re a legit prospect. I’d be shocked if Sabato came up this year unless injuries start to pile up. 

Sabato is the same as McCusker. Good on them to keep fighting to get to AAA but they haven't actually earned a MLB job. Neither has any defensive value and they both strike out in a third of their trips to the plate in AAA. 

The internal evaluation is the same the external evaluation. Sabato ain't ****. 

[bunsen82]

19 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

Sabato is the same as McCusker. Good on them to keep fighting to get to AAA but they haven't actually earned a MLB job. Neither has any defensive value and they both strike out in a third of their trips to the plate in AAA. 

The internal evaluation is the same the external evaluation. Sabato ain't ****. 

Sabato went from no shot, to long shot  to he will probably get an opportunity.   He keeps this up the remainder of the year.  In the last 28 games he has a .287/.307/.543 slash line.  He will run into the same issue as Lee.  As they rise the levels they either need to increase the batting average further, or increase the walks to increase their productiveness.   I would still say this is a slight mirage, but he has continued to make slight improvements throughout the years culminating in this one.  Sabato is actually a first baseman though which would be good with some real power potential.  Sano only had 2 years with OBP's of over .320.  For a power hitter I think that is the threshold you are looking for.   

[Nshore]

38 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

Because Sabato hasn't been that good since coming up to AAA? The recent explosion is great, and what we want to see from him, but the .305 OBP is not good enough at all. He's shown a significant dip in production since moving up to AAA including a decent slump. AAA is the right place for him to be showing whether or not he's earned another promotion. They're not going to cut Clemens (even though they should move on from him in the offseason) and they should be seeing whether or not Julien has a chance to be at 1B and give him enough games now (when it doesn't matter) to determine his fate.

Fedko has been great since getting called up to AAA, but it's been only 26 games and this is the first time in his career he hasn't struggled upon promotion. It's not crazy to think that he's better off getting regular PT through the end of the season and proving that he belongs while the team is making decisions on guys like Outman and Larnach in the OF for next season. Sure, you could have promoted him instead of Keirsey, but a cup of coffee for Fedko in MLB in September won't tell us much.

What's the point in adding either of those guys to the 40-man so you can add them to the (now) 28-man for 3+ weeks?

Why in the name of Abner Doubleday do we need to see more of Julien?  I look at the standings then look at the players.  Look at the standings then look at the players.  If nothing else, I think we need to see some new faces play bad baseball.

[jmlease1]

18 minutes ago, Nshore said:

Why in the name of Abner Doubleday do we need to see more of Julien?  I look at the standings then look at the players.  Look at the standings then look at the players.  If nothing else, I think we need to see some new faces play bad baseball.

Because people have forgotten how good he was in his rookie season. it may well be that teams have a book on him and that he won't be able to adjust his approach to overcome it, but this is the perfect time to make that call once and for all. There's nothing more to learn about him in AAA, he's healthy, and might be capable of playing a position that has been a revolving door since Mauer retired. He's only had 17 starts and 62 PAs since coming back up: let him play the rest of the season and see if there's anything there, and if not we can move on knowing we gave him a legit chance. 

It's the same thing with Gasper. Give them enough run and regular time to make an informed call. Has Gasper been bad at the plate so far? Sure. But he's got a career total of 105 PAs, which is meaningless and the fact that they've come in 48 games shows he's never gotten any real run. Dude crushes AAA (for longer and as well as if not better than both Fedko and Sabato) and we'll learn nothing about him there. Give him enough run the rest of the season to see if he can be a backup catcher and hit enough in MLB to be useful. And if he plays all Sept and stinks? Call him a Quad-A guy and move along in the offseason and open up the 40-man for prospects.

It's fairly likely that neither change anyone's mind, but I'd much rather guys like Fedko or Sabato or GG or Walker Jenkins get a chance in 2026 when hope springs eternal than for them to get picked apart by an angry and reactionary fanbase over 3 meaningless weeks in Sept. And I'd rather settle the case once and for all on guys like Gasper, Outman, Julien, and even Larnach.

[TwinsDr2021]

1 hour ago, NYCTK said:

Sabato is the same as McCusker. Good on them to keep fighting to get to AAA but they haven't actually earned a MLB job. Neither has any defensive value and they both strike out in a third of their trips to the plate in AAA. 

The internal evaluation is the same the external evaluation. Sabato ain't ****. 

IMO there is no reason to see what Sabato, McCusker, Fedko or anybody else 26 or older (I would include Julien, Keirsay or Outman in that) because these are not the type of players the Twins need to rebuild this offense. They are the type of players that fill in around you core (after you have a core, which the Twins don't have at this time) Still trying to figure out Lee, Lewis, Wallner, Larnach and to a lesser extend Keaschall. At this point they have Buxton and Jeffers as absolute starters (likely Keaschall), The rest of the roster at this time is replacement or below replacement level. Wallner's OPS+ is 112, but is being pulled so....

[gman]

September is a good month to take a long and perhaps final look at a lot of players. There seems to be about a dozen players who could easily be removed from the 40 man list perhaps more. I think most of the players under discussion are not more than filler under the best(I hope) of circumstances. We are not really seeing that many potential starters for next year and I don't expect to. We don't want to get too many on the major league roster and promote bad habits or negative attitudes among them.

[Major League Ready]

6 hours ago, rdehring said:

See Jenkins was the DH last night.  Nice 1-4 with a walk and one K after his 3 hit night.  And that hit was a double.  He has struck out only 7 times in 35 plate appearances.  That combined with five walks seems to indicate he is the same hitter in AAA as at the lower levels.  Expect he has settled in and will have a nice finish to his season.

He has a .624 OPS in AAA so he has not been even close to the same hitter.  However, he also only has 29 ABs in AAA so it means very little at this point.

[Chembry]

Seems like Raya has been pitching out of the bullpen as of late.  Do we think that is foreshadowing for 2026 or is that a way to get him more work in 2025?  Given his injury history, the Twins propensity to slowly ramp him up, and likely bullpen projection, it would have been nice to get him some MLB experience in 2025 if that is where we are heading in 2026.  We really don't need the likes of Davis, Kriske, Tonkin, etc...pitching out of the pen when most likely they aren't returning in 2026 anyway.  I know I am preaching to the choir.

[tony&rodney]

21 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

He has a .624 OPS in AAA so he has not been even close to the same hitter.  However, he also only has 29 ABs in AAA so it means very little at this point.

Have you watched Jenkins at AAA? I've seen most of his PA. He has hit numerous line drive outs at well over 100 mph.  I don't see Walker having any problems hitting anywhere. He just needs to get acclimated. Jenkins and Gonzalez are easily the best players on the Saints roster.

[tony&rodney]

4 minutes ago, Chembry said:

Do we think that is foreshadowing for 2026 or is that a way to get him more work in 2025?

If you or anyone else has a clue to how the Twins work their players, let us know.

[Chembry]

20 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

If you or anyone else has a clue to how the Twins work their players, let us know.

I agree with you...All the moves made since the trade deadline, including September call ups have mystified most of us.

[Major League Ready]

2 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Have you watched Jenkins at AAA? I've seen most of his PA. He has hit numerous line drive outs at well over 100 mph.  I don't see Walker having any problems hitting anywhere. He just needs to get acclimated. Jenkins and Gonzalez are easily the best players on the Saints roster.

I think Jenkins is an absolute stud.  I just don't believe in using a sample size of 29 ABs.  I like the odds that they build a much better core of position players this time around.  Keaschall / Jenkins / Culpepper / and Gonzalez are easy to get excited about.  I didn't mention Rodriguez in that group because I have more reservation about him.  At the same time, if he can cut the K rate a bit, he is a great defender and he hits both handed pitching.  Rosario might be right there with these guys as well and Tait looks like a guy that could debut very young.  

[cheeseheadgophfan]

11 hours ago, bunsen82 said:

They don't want to win in the next 25+ games . . . They may try a few Sept 15th or on.   They are currently at the 2nd best odds in the lottery for next year.  20% for 1st pick -  60% of first 3 picks, and virtually guaranteed a top 5 pick if things remain the same.  

They will just draft someone under-slot to try to save money.....

[bunsen82]

7 hours ago, cheeseheadgophfan said:

They will just draft someone under-slot to try to save money.....

You don't understand the strategy of going underslot.  You would underslot your pick so you can get a better prospect later in the draft.  They absolutely could underslot.  I think they learned with Jenkins,  get the best player you can with the highest ceiling.  Those are the players that can change the organizations trajectory.  

[cheeseheadgophfan]

8 hours ago, bunsen82 said:

You don't understand the strategy of going underslot.  You would underslot your pick so you can get a better prospect later in the draft.  They absolutely could underslot.  I think they learned with Jenkins,  get the best player you can with the highest ceiling.  Those are the players that can change the organizations trajectory.  

I understand the theory that most teams use for underslot.  The way this team is currently run, they will draft the cheapest prospect available and pocket the money., rather than spend it later on.....