Aaron Sabato is doing what the Twins have long wanted from him at Triple-A: hitting enough to force a real conversation. The catch is that he may have arrived at this level of production after Minnesota had already moved on in its thinking.
Sabato’s path has always been built around the bat. A lightly recruited player out of Connecticut, he turned himself into one of the best power hitters in college baseball at North Carolina.
He set the Tar Heels’ freshman home run record with 18 in 2019, then followed that with seven homers in 19 games during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season after shoulder surgery kept him out of summer ball. That run convinced the Twins to take him 27th overall in the first round of the shortened draft, betting that his offense would carry him.
That gamble came with a huge caveat. First base gives a prospect nowhere to hide if the bat doesn’t play, and Sabato spent much of his pro career failing to clear that bar.
Over parts of four seasons at Double-A Wichita, he put up a .749 OPS and never really separated himself from the pack. For a while, it looked like he might settle in as nothing more than depth.
Then 2025 happened.
Before his promotion, Sabato tore through Double-A pitching, hitting .305/.399/.574 with 14 home runs in 39 games. That production came with a .973 OPS and a 165 wRC+, enough to make the Twins check whether the breakout was real.
Once he reached Triple-A, the numbers cooled some. Over his final 65 games there, he hit .245/.288/.453 with a .741 OPS, and his 86 wRC+ wasn’t the kind of line that forces a major league door open.
This season has told a different story. Sabato entered his age-27 season as a part-time player, but injuries around the St.
Paul roster opened the door for regular at-bats, and he has run with them. In 57 games, he’s hitting .284/.346/.581 with 14 home runs, 20 doubles, and a .927 OPS.
His 129 wRC+ is comfortably above average, and the underlying numbers back up the surge.
The biggest change is contact. Sabato has cut his strikeout rate from 28.7% last season to 25.0% this year.
That’s still not ideal, but for a bat-first first baseman, every bit of extra contact matters. He’s also posting a .298 isolated power mark, his best since the lower levels of the minors, which says the pop is still very much there.
What’s interesting is how he’s getting there. His hard-hit rate has dropped by 4.2 percentage points from last season, which suggests he isn’t just mashing the ball harder.
Instead, he’s lifting it better. His average launch angle is up 2.5 degrees, helping him get the ball in the air more consistently and turn that raw power into production.
Minnesota has spent years cycling through veteran answers at first base, giving chances to Carlos Santana, Ty France, Josh Bell, and Kody Clemens while waiting for someone to seize the job. Sabato never quite made them change course with his earlier minor league work. Now he finally is.
The timing matters. If the Twins slide further out of contention, veterans like Bell or Clemens could become trade candidates before the deadline.
Even Royce Lewis could draw interest if the front office decides to reshape the roster. That kind of turnover would create a clear opening for Sabato to get his first extended shot in the majors.
A 27-year-old first baseman putting up these numbers in Triple-A usually gets that opportunity. Sabato is trying to make sure the Twins have no choice but to notice.
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