Inside The Twins

Twins minor league updates: Emmanuel Rodriguez, Aaron Sabato, Gabby Gonzalez

Rodriguez returned to Triple-A St. Paul with a bang on Tuesday night.
Will Ragatz|
Emmanuel Rodriguez returned to Triple-A with a bang on Tuesday night.
Emmanuel Rodriguez returned to Triple-A with a bang on Tuesday night. | Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints

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With one of the Twins' top prospects now healthy again and a late-blooming former first-round pick continuing to rake, it felt like a good time for another minor league update.

Rodriguez returns and offers a reminder of his talent

Twins No. 2 prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez returned to the Triple-A St. Paul lineup on Tuesday night and offered a reminder of why his ceiling is so incredibly high if he can stay healthy. After missing a few weeks on the IL with a hip injury and then going on a lengthy rehab assignment, Rodriguez hit seventh for the Saints and did a little bit of everything in an 11-5 win over the Iowa Cubs.

Rodriguez walked and scored in his first plate appearance and singled and scored one inning later. He singled and scored again in the seventh, and then he wrapped up his day at the plate by crushing a three-run homer to right field in the eighth. He finished the game 3 for 4 with a walk, four runs scored, and three RBI, adding a couple nice catches in center field for good measure.

It's all about health for Rodriguez, whose OPS is up to .838 in 40 games for St. Paul this season. He was outstanding last season, but he only played in 47 total games due to a nagging thumb issue. Injuries were a part of his story in earlier years as well. When Rodriguez is on the field, he looks like a future MLB star because of his rare combination of on-base percentage, speed, and power to all fields. If his body holds up, the 22-year-old Rodriguez could find himself in the Twins' lineup before 2025 is over.

Sabato is already knocking on the Twins' door

Last month, I covered Aaron Sabato's promotion to Triple-A, which came after a long-awaited breakout at the Double-A level for the forgotten former first-rounder. The 27th overall pick back in 2020, Sabato struggled in his first few years in the minors and lost all of his prospect shine — and that was before he bottomed out by hitting .199 in a brutal 2024 season. But this year, Sabato absolutely raked for Wichita, earning a promotion to St. Paul.

After playing in 224 Double-A games over parts of four seasons, Sabato even making it to St. Paul was a cool story. It would've been understandable if he got off to a slow start at that level. Instead, he's just continued to crush the ball. After hammering a three-run homer as part of a three-hit game on Tuesday, Sabato is batting .323 with four homers, 15 RBI, and a .951 OPS in his first 19 Triple-A games. And he's struck out in 19 percent of his plate appearances after joining the Saints with a career 31 percent K rate in the minors.

The 26-year-old Sabato is looking like a late bloomer and making a real push for a call-up to the Twins at some point.

It's very much worth pointing out that the Twins have gotten an 85 wRC+ from their first basemen this year, which ranks 25th in baseball. That mostly comes from low-cost offseason pickup Ty France and his 89 wRC+. Signed for just $1 million, France had a strong spring training and has provided some value with his .325 average with runners in scoring position, but on the whole, he's been a firmly below-average offensive player at a position where offense is important. And over his last 21 games, France is slumping, hitting just .162 with a .473 OPS.

It's not going to happen right now. But if Sabato keeps producing in St. Paul and France continues to flounder, the Twins should absolutely consider giving the 2020 first-rounder an opportunity.

How the Twins could still get value from the Polanco trade

The Twins' January 2024 trade that sent Jorge Polanco to the Mariners hasn't worked out very well for either team thus far. Polanco was bad last season and has been solid this year, though he's cooled off quite a bit after a hot start. Among the big-league players the Twins got back, Anthony DeSclafani got hurt and never played for Minnesota, while Justin Topa was injured last year and has a 3.97 ERA this year as a low/medium-leverage bullpen option.

But the key piece of the deal, from the Twins' perspective, is a 21-year-old outfield prospect named Gabriel "Gabby" Gonzalez — who just happens to be thriving in Double-A this year. Gonzalez began the year raking at High-A Cedar Rapids, earning a promotion. And since arriving in Wichita, all he's done is hit .371 with 14 doubles, more walks than strikeouts, and a .971 OPS across 39 games.

Gonzalez is currently ranked by MLB.com as the Twins' No. 17 prospect, but his play this year warrants a jump up that list. He's currently the No. 3 hitter in the Wichita lineup behind top Twins prospects Kaelen Culpepper and Walker Jenkins, and in front of Double-A standouts Kala'i Rosario and Kyler Fedko. A Triple-A promotion for Gonzalez before the end of this season isn't out of the question if he continues to hit like this. And if he pans out in the big leagues, the Polanco trade will have been well worth it for the Twins.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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