The Twins may finally have a reason to test Aaron Sabato in the majors.
A former first-round pick who has spent years fighting to prove he can hit enough to matter, Sabato is suddenly giving the organization something it has rarely had from him: sustained production. And the timing is hard to ignore, because Minnesota has been getting little out of its current options against left-handed pitching.
Sabato was taken 27th overall in the 2020 MLB Draft, and the expectations were always tied to the bat. That’s the deal with a first-base-only player - he has to mash.
Instead, his minor league track record has been defined by swing-and-miss, a modest batting average, and enough walks to keep him afloat. Across six minor league seasons, he has hit .230 and struck out more than 30% of the time.
That profile usually doesn’t buy much patience. But Sabato has kept hanging around the Twins system, and each year there have been stretches that make people wonder if the breakout is finally coming.
This season is the closest he’s come.
Sabato opened the 2026 season, his age-27 year, at Triple-A St. Paul, but he barely played at first. He appeared in only four of the club’s first 17 games, took 14 plate appearances, and struck out seven times.
Then the production arrived. Beginning with a three-hit game on April 16, he played nine of the final 13 games in April and hit .310/.375/.621 with three doubles and two home runs in 32 plate appearances.
Since then, he’s stayed hot. From April 16 on, he’s batting .293 with 47 extra-base hits, including 20 homers, and a .961 OPS.
Even with the rough start, his season OPS sits at .936, and his wRC+ is about 30% better than league average.
The underlying numbers are the best he’s put together in his career. His .287 average at Triple-A is the top mark he’s ever posted at any level outside of a .305 average in 39 Double-A games last season.
His best year-end average in a sample larger than 50 games was .245 last season at Triple-A. His wRC+ has only reached this level twice before: in those 39 Double-A games last year and in 22 High-A games in 2021.
There are still plenty of reasons to be cautious. Sabato is still missing enough bats, though he has trimmed his strikeout rate to 24% this season.
He’s also become more aggressive, which has cut into his walk rate over the last two years. But the tradeoff has worked so far.
His batting average has jumped, and he’s reached a .356 OBP this year, the best of his career outside of Single-A.
He’s also doing damage in a very specific area: fastballs. Against left-handed pitching this season, Sabato has been excellent, with a 1.243 OPS and a .364/.470/.773 line.
That matters because the Twins have been one of the worst teams in baseball against lefties. They rank in the bottom five in batting average, OPS, wRC+, and wOBA versus left-handed pitchers.
Only five Twins with more than 10 plate appearances have been league-average or better against lefties by wRC+: Ryan Jeffers (165), Austin Martin (124), Royce Lewis (117), Byron Buxton (104), and Kody Clemens (103). After that, the drop is steep.
Josh Bell has a .667 OPS against lefties, which is 14% below league average. Victor Caratini has been handling first base against southpaws and owns a .607 OPS, 21% below league average.
Those two have combined for 64% of the team’s plate appearances against lefties at first base and designated hitter.
That doesn’t mean Sabato would walk into the majors and fix the problem. He could absolutely struggle more if his strikeouts spike against big-league pitching, and MLB arms could take away his best weapon by getting him out with offspeed and breaking stuff. He has also seen fastballs around 94 MPH on average this season, and there’s no guarantee he can keep up with major league velocity.
Still, the ask here is modest. He wouldn’t need to become a star. If he could simply give the Twins league-average offense against lefties, that would be a real boost.
And there is room for him. Tristan Gray and Alex Jackson are on the big-league roster, or at least one of them is pending Kaelen Culpepper’s corresponding move, but neither has been playing much.
Gray has started just three of nine games since replacing an injured Byron Buxton a week and a half ago. Jackson has started three games since Ryan Jeffers came back from injury on July 10, including two at first base against a lefty.
In limited action against lefties, Jackson has a .382 OPS in 24 plate appearances.
That makes this a rare situation where a club could actually use a first baseman who only handles the short side of a platoon. Even after Culpepper’s promotion, or if Walker Jenkins gets called up, there could still be space for Sabato if the Twins want another right-handed bat and don’t use one of the players currently designated for assignment. He could also be a September call-up when rosters expand by one hitter and one pitcher.
Sabato’s ceiling in the majors is not especially high, and projection systems like ZiPS don’t see him becoming even an average hitter at a spot where offense is the whole point. But the Twins don’t need a finished product right now. They just need to know whether this version of Sabato can give them something a few times a week against left-handed pitching.
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Twins Bet On Jeff Hoffman Despite One Lingering Concern
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Minnesota also had to pay a meaningful price to get him, which only raises the stakes on how quickly Hoffman settles in. His recent track record suggests there is enough there to trust the fit, and the fact that he has started to trend better since June only adds to the appeal. The lingering question now is whether the Twins have landed the steadier version of Hoffman, or whether the rough patches from earlier this season are still part of the package. [Read more 🡒]