Twins May Have Fleeced Phillies for a Stud Bat at Last Year's Deadline

The Twins might have fleeced the Phillies during their sell-off at last year's trade deadline, and we're not talking about the potential win-win trade that sent closer Jhoan Duran to Philly for young starter Mick Abel and very young catcher prospect Eduardo Tait.

Minnesota and Philadelphia somewhat quietly made a second trade during that frenzy, with the Twins swapping rental outfielder Harrison Bader for then-Double-A outfield prospect Hendry Mendez. 10 months later, that deal has aged quite well for the Twins, even if Mendez hasn't yet debuted in the big leagues.

The Phillies got 50 very strong games out of Bader, who was a pending free agent. He hit .305 with five home runs and an .824 OPS down the stretch for the NL East champions. Unfortunately, Bader left Game 1 of the NLDS against the Dodgers with groin tightness and only had four plate appearances in his team's 3-1 loss to the eventual World Series champions. Bader then signed a two-year deal with the Giants this winter.

Meanwhile, Mendez has done nothing but hit since joining the Twins' organization. He was already having a nice season for the Phillies' Double-A affiliate, posting an .808 OPS through 85 games at the time of the trade. He then went to Double-A Wichita for the Twins and had a .911 OPS over the final 33 games of the season, with 27 walks to just 21 strikeouts.

Mendez, who MLB Pipeline ranks as the Twins' No. 12 prospect, has been even better so far in 2026. He had an .857 OPS through 24 games with Wichita when he earned his first promotion to the Triple-A level in early May. And since joining the St. Paul Saints, he's been on an absurd heater.

Feb 19, 2026; Lee County, FL, USA; Minnesota Twins outfielder Hendry Mendez (64) poses during photo day at Hammond Stadium. | Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

On Tuesday night in Louisville, Mendez went 4 for 4 with two doubles, two singles, and a walk. Through 17 games with the Saints, he's hit .400 with three homers, 15 RBI, a 1.113 OPS, and 15 walks to 10 strikeouts. He has not looked even a little bit overwhelmed by the jump in competition. In fact, he's been so good that the 22-year-old Dominican — who originally signed as an international free agent with the Brewers — may already be knocking on the door of another promotion.

Mendez, who is on the Twins' 40-man roster, has a very smooth left-handed swing with power to all fields. He draws walks, he doesn't chase much, and he combines quantity and quality of contact in a way that is extremely exciting.

It's now a two home run inning for the team with more homers than anyone else in baseball. And congrats to Hendry Mendez, his first big fly at Triple-A. A 3-run blast to straightaway center. It's a 5-run second inning. Mendez has a hit in 8 of 9 games with the Saints pic.twitter.com/vXERyysQxU
— St. Paul Saints (@StPaulSaints) May 16, 2026

This is 96 up out of the strike zone and Hendry Mendez, against the lefty, goes the opposite way for a 2-run blast. Second straight game with a homer, only the second time in his career he's done that. pic.twitter.com/0VamrHprHP
— St. Paul Saints (@StPaulSaints) May 23, 2026

Mendez is inevitably going to cool off, as he has an unsustainable .442 BABIP with the Saints and a ground ball rate north of 50 percent. You'd like to see him start to pull the ball in the air a bit more often. But it's impossible to argue with his production since he was acquired by the Twins, both at Double-A and now during this incredible start to his Triple-A career.

This looks like a guy with a chance to have a long, productive MLB career. To get him for 50 games of Bader was outstanding work by Derek Falvey and the Twins' front office last summer.

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